policymaker

Examples of policymaker in the following topics:

• Policy Making and Special Interests

  • Interest groups that can advance their cause to the policymaking process tend to possess certain key traits.
  • The debate over creating free trade areas, like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) , placed business groups in competition with labor and environmental groups in garnering the attention of policymakers toward their divergent causes.
  • The skills that interest groups utilize to advance their causes are also important in accessing the policymaking process.
  • Events, such as the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), highlight the differences among special interest groups and the competition that takes place between them to capture the attention of policymakers.

• The Working Poor

  • Within the United States, since the start of the War on Poverty in the 1960s, scholars and policymakers on both ends of the political spectrum have paid an increasing amount of attention to the working poor.
  • Conservative scholars and policymakers often attribute the prevalence of inequality and working poverty to overregulation and overtaxation, which they claim constricts job growth.
  • Many scholars and policymakers suggest welfare state generosity, increased wages and benefits, more vocational education and training, increased child support, and increased rates of marriage as probable remedies to these obstacles.

• Issue Identification and Agenda Building

  • The first step of the policy process involves issues being turned into agenda items for policymaking bodies.
  • Issues must become agenda items for some policymaking body in order to enter the policy cycle.
  • These policymaking bodies may be a legislature, (e.g., a city council) or an administrative agency, (e.g., a health department).

• Arguments For and Against Discretionary Monetary Policy

  • However, following the stagflation of the 1970s, policymakers were attracted to policy rules.
  • A discretionary policy is supported because it allows policymakers to respond quickly to events.

• The Goals of Economic Policy

  • However, following the stagflation of the 1970s, policymakers began to be attracted to policy rules.
  • A discretionary policy is supported because it allows policymakers to respond quickly to events.

• The Effect of Expansionary Monetary Policy

  • It is important for policymakers to make credible announcements.
  • If private agents (consumers and firms) believe that policymakers are committed to growing the economy, the agents will anticipate future prices to be higher than they would be otherwise.

• The Effect of Restrictive Monetary Policy

  • It is important for policymakers to make credible announcements.
  • If private agents (consumers and firms) believe that policymakers are committed to limiting inflation through restrictive monetary policy, the agents will anticipate future prices to be lower than they would be otherwise.

• Automatic Stabilizers Versus Discretionary Policy

  • Discretionary policy is a macroeconomic policy based on the judgment of policymakers in the moment, as opposed to a policy set by predetermined rules.
  • Of course, it is not possible to create an automatic stabilizer for every potential economic issue, so discretionary policy allows policymakers flexibility.

• Long Run Growth

  • Policymakers strive for steady, continued, and consistent growth because it is predictable and manageable for both policymakers and market participants.

• Leadership

  • When interest groups attempt to influence policymakers through lobbying, they usually rely on professional lobbyists.
  • Recent estimates put the number of registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C. at about 13,700, though there are likely thousands more unregistered lobbyists working to influence policymakers.