Public policy sounds like a technical term, but you meet it all day. If you have ever wondered what public policy is, the short version is that it covers the decisions governments make about problems that affect many people at once. Once you can spot those decisions, news stories about politics get much easier to follow.
Public policy in one plain sentence
Public policy is what a government chooses to do, or chooses not to do, about a shared problem.
Each part of that sentence matters. “Government” can mean a city council, a state legislature, a federal agency or a court. “Chooses” means someone made a decision, even if the decision was to wait. “Shared problem” means the issue reaches beyond one household, such as unsafe roads, polluted water, a shortage of housing or the cost of schools.
A policy is different from a politician’s opinion or a campaign slogan. A statement of belief becomes policy only when it turns into something with force behind it: a rule people must follow, money that gets spent, or a ruling that settles a dispute.
Policy you already live with every day
Picture a busy street that runs past an elementary school. Cars move fast, and children cross it twice a day. Nearly everyone in town agrees this is a problem, because nobody wants a child hurt. The town can respond in several ways, and each response is a policy:
- Set a lower speed limit near the school during drop-off and pick-off hours.
- Pay for a crossing guard.
- Install a traffic signal or a marked crosswalk.
- Place speed cameras and fine drivers who go over the limit.
This is a made-up example, but the pattern is real. The same thing happens when you:
- Stop at a red light.
- Buy a bottle of medicine with a label that lists its ingredients.
- Pay sales tax at a store.
- Send a child to a school that has to meet state requirements.
- Turn on a tap and drink water that a utility is required to test.
Every item on that list exists because some government decided to act on a shared problem. Most of the time the policy is so familiar that it fades into the background, and people notice it mainly when it changes.
The many forms a policy can take
Policy is not only laws. Governments have several tools, and knowing which tool is in use explains a lot about a news story.
Laws
A law, also called a statute, is passed by a legislature such as Congress, a state legislature or a city council. It sets a requirement, a prohibition or a program. A law can say that drivers must stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk, or that a state will fund a certain type of school program. You can read more about how lawmaking bodies work in this overview of the legislative branch.
Regulations
A regulation is a detailed rule written by a government agency. Legislatures often pass a law that sets a goal in broad terms, then give an agency the job of working out the specifics. A law might require food to be safe to eat, and an agency writes the rules about labeling, inspection and storage. Regulations carry legal force, but they come from agencies rather than from a vote of elected lawmakers.
Budgets
A budget is a policy statement written in numbers. Deciding how much to spend on road repair, public schools, police, parks or health programs is a choice about priorities. Deciding how to raise the money, through taxes, fees or borrowing, is another choice. A law can promise a program, but if the budget gives it no money, the program will not do much.
Court rulings
Courts shape policy when they decide what a law or a constitution means. A ruling can settle a dispute between two parties and also set a standard that applies to similar cases afterward. Courts do not write laws, but when they interpret one, the practical effect can be a change in what the government may or must do. This is covered further in an overview of the judicial branch.
Executive actions
Presidents, governors and mayors lead the part of government that carries out laws, and they make policy choices while doing it. They can issue orders, appoint the people who run agencies, and decide what to prioritize when enforcing the rules. The executive branch has a lot of room for judgment, though its actions can usually be challenged in court or reversed by a later leader.
Who makes policy: national, state and local governments
In the United States, policy is made at three main levels, and each handles different kinds of problems.
National (federal) government. Congress passes federal laws and sets the federal budget. The president and federal agencies carry those laws out, and federal courts interpret them. National policy covers matters that cross state lines or affect the whole country, such as immigration, national defense, interstate commerce and federal taxes.
State governments. Each state has its own legislature, governor, agencies and court system. States set many of the rules that touch daily life, including driver’s licensing, much of education policy, professional licensing and state taxes. Because there are fifty states, the same problem can be handled in fifty different ways, and that variety is deliberate in a federal system. For comparison with other designs, see federal and unitary governments.
Local governments. Cities, counties, towns and school districts decide things like zoning, local road maintenance, trash collection, library hours and how a school board runs its schools. The school-crossing example above would most likely be handled here. Local policy is often the one that people feel most directly, which is why local governments deserve more attention than they usually get.
The levels overlap. A school might follow a federal law, a state curriculum rule and a district budget all at once. When a policy question seems confusing, it often helps to ask first which level of government has the authority to act on it.
Why choosing not to act is also a policy choice
Governments do not have to act on every problem, and when they decline, that decision has effects too.
Suppose a city council hears complaints about the school street and votes against changing anything. The existing speed limit stays in place, and the existing rules continue to apply. Or suppose a legislature debates a bill and lets it expire without a vote. The previous rules remain, and that outcome is a result someone chose, or at least allowed.
A decision not to act can reflect several different reasons. Officials may think the problem is too small to justify the cost. They may believe the private sector, a community group or individual families can handle it better. They may worry that a particular fix would cause new problems, or they may simply lack the votes. Whatever the reason, the result for the public is that the current arrangement continues.
This is useful to keep in mind when reading about a “do-nothing” Congress or a city that “ignored” a problem. Sometimes inaction is the product of gridlock. Sometimes it is a considered judgment that government should stay out of the matter. Both leave the existing rules in force, and both are part of policy.
Why sensible people disagree about the same policy problem
Go back to the school street. Suppose everyone in town agrees that children should be able to cross safely. They can still disagree about what to do, and the disagreement does not mean anyone is foolish or acting in bad faith.
Several things can separate people who share the same goal:
- Costs. A crossing guard needs a salary every year, while a signal has an installation cost and then upkeep. Some residents will prefer to spend the money elsewhere.
- Tradeoffs. A lower speed limit makes the street safer but slows down commuters. Some people will accept that, and others will not.
- Evidence. Studies and local data may point in different directions, or may not exist for this exact street. People weigh uncertain evidence differently.
- Values. Some people put more weight on personal convenience or privacy, as with speed cameras, and others put more on collective safety.
- Who pays and who benefits. Parents of young children, drivers, local businesses and taxpayers without children each have a different stake.
This is why agreeing on a problem is often the easy part. Choosing a policy means choosing among imperfect options, and reasonable people rank the costs and benefits differently. The same is true of large national questions, where the stakes are bigger but the structure of the disagreement is the same.
How to read a policy debate fairly, whatever your politics
You do not need to share anyone’s politics to read a policy debate clearly. A short set of questions works on almost any issue:
- What is the problem? Look for a plain description of what is going wrong and who is affected.
- What is being proposed? Identify the tool: a law, a regulation, a budget change, a court ruling or an executive action.
- Which level of government is involved? Knowing whether it is local, state or national tells you who has the power to decide.
- What does it cost, and who pays? Every policy has costs, even when they are not in dollars.
- What does the evidence show, and what is still unknown? Be cautious with any claim that sounds certain about a complicated question.
- What happens if nothing changes? The alternative to a new policy is the existing one.
- Can each side state the other’s view in terms the other would accept? If supporters and opponents can describe each other’s reasoning accurately, the debate is probably on solid ground.
These questions do not tell you what to conclude. They help you separate disagreements about facts from disagreements about values, and that separation is usually where a debate becomes understandable. It also makes it easier to listen to someone whose conclusion differs from yours.
Public policy is the collection of choices a community makes, through its governments, about how to handle problems it shares. Once you can see the choice, the tool and the level of government, a headline stops being noise and becomes a decision you can examine.
If you want to see how a problem becomes a policy step by step, read How Political Decisions Get Made, Following One Issue From Problem to Policy next.