POL 1101 Final GATECH (Notes on Political Science)

Define and provide examples of public goods and private goods?Explain why are markets good at providing one, but not the other?
-private good: goods which are excludable/rival. ex: pen, hamburger
-public good: non-excludable, non-rival (water, air, security)
-excludability: short of violence, one can prevent others from consuming it
-rivalry: one person's consumption affects others' consumption

Why did early colonists in North America feud with native Americans over land?
Misunderstandings in culture or politics, threatening or offending accidentally, just robbing them or killing them outright.

How does the federal budget process work?
Budget Process:
1. President submits budget proposal to Congress
2. Congress may tweak it and returns to President
3. President may sign or veto

Money from taxes/debts
-Goes to mostly:
1. Health care
2. Social Security
3. Defense
4. Welfare
-^^^ Most are stable, but health care is causing budget crisis. Transfers from general population to senior citizens

What was the significance of the Marbury v. Madison casein the Supreme Court?
The Constitution does not give the power of judicial review to the Court, but it doesn't forbid the Court to have that power, either. Chief Justice John Marshall shrewdly engineered the adoption of the power of judicial review in Marbury v. Madison in 1803."The Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of when laws are unconstitutional." ( ruled by the Court itself and remains unchallenged by the other branches. )

Who controls the US military?
The President of the United States is the Commander in Chief, who is responsible for all final decisions. The Secretary of the Department of Defense (DoD) has control over the military and each branch

What are (and are not) the primary goals of US foreign policy?
Most foreign policy is action to correct something we don't like in the world or reaction to world events
Main goals = promote national security and own economic growth while also promoting spread of democracy
In past : Bush doctrine = US to maintain military supremacy and take preemptive action against hostile and threatening states
Obama = emphasized diplomatic over military solutions, keeping communication channels with enemies open and trying to find common interests on which to build

Describe the strengths and weaknesses of hierarchies v. markets v. networks? Under what conditions does one work better than the others?
Markets = informed, rational individuals involved in the free exchange of goods, services, & capital, resulting in innovation and economic efficiency. Efficient and innovative
Hierarchies = organizations of asymmetrical power, centralized, command-and-control...reduce transaction costs
Networks = Networks are good at providing distant information. Social networks provide vital information which neither markets nor governments easily capture. Drastically reduce costs and risks of politics/economic activities

Under what conditions does one work better than the others (hierarchy vs. market vs. network?
Networks are good at providing distant information. Social networks provide vital information which neither markets nor governments easily capture. Drastically reduce costs and risks of politics/economic activities. Reduce information costs and carry information which cannot be codified well
Hierarchies good when need well-informed decision from expert in short amount of time, ex. CEO making decisions like companies budget, also cheapest way of decision making cus limited transaction costs
Markets good when everyone has access to all the info involving transactions and they all have separate agendas - no one decision needs to be made by all members

How does the use of networks vary across cultural (especially religious) groups?
It doesn't - all religions and cultures have the same instances of personal/formal/direct use of social networks

In networks for transmitting information for market exchanges, what types of networks, frequency of contact, and degrees of separation work best?
Personal, occasional, second degree

What primarily motivated early revolutionary activities in the North American colonies of Great Britain?
excessive and unfair taxation coupled with belligerent behaviors from england in response to the colonies response to taxation

What is the major lesson of Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage?
Ricardo: Everybody wins in free trade! Govt stay out. (Trade if other country has a specialization/comparative advantage in a particular good.)

What issues destroyed the 2nd Party System (Democrats v. Whigs 1828 - 1854)?
Jacksonian Democrats: Farmers, slavery, empire builders (southerners)
Whigs: Popular Democracy. Christian Evangelicianism. Commerce, Industry.
Slavery destroyed the whigs.

According to the US Constitution, which powers are reserved for the individual state governments?
No single section of the Constitution deals with federalism. Instead, the provisions dividing power between the states and the national government appear throughout the Constitution. As a state matter, local government is not mentioned in the Constitution at all. Most of the Constitution is concerned with establishing the powers of the national government. Since Congress is the main lawmaking arm of the national government, many of the powers of the national government are the powers of Congress. The Constitution says considerably less about the powers granted to the states. The Tenth Amendment says that all powers not given to the national government are reserved to the states, although the necessary and proper clause makes it difficult to see which powers are withheld from the national government.

What's the difference between a party caucus and a primary?
A party caucus is a system of local gatherings where voters decide which candidate to support and select delegates for nominating conventions. A primary is the direct nomination of party candidates by registered party members as opposed to party bosses.

According to specific factors theory, which economic actors probably lose most from US free trade with Japan in autos?
semi-skilled and skilled workers in particular industries (say auto, electronics) who are threatened by trade where production is overseas.

What did the Milgram Pain/Authority Experiment show?
The study suggested that ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent human being. Obedience to authority is ingrained in us all from the way we are brought up.

People tend to obey orders from other people if they recognize their authority as morally right and/or legally based. This response to legitimate authority is learned in a variety of situations, for example in the family, school and workplace.

What did the Stanford Prison Experiment show?
Under the right circumstances, people's behavior and decisions can conform to what they think they should be doing because of what everyone else around them is doing

Within Congress, from where do the House & Senate leaders get their power?
The majority and minority parties in each house elect their own leaders, who are, in turn, the leaders of Congress. Congress itself determines how much power the leaders of each chamber will have. The main leadership offices in the House of Representatives are the Speaker of the House, the majority leader, the minority leader, and the whips.

In which policy area is the US president is most powerful?
Foreign policy

Who does protection against foreign imports (e.g tariffs, quotas) always hurt? Help?
Always hurts consumer surplus, helps producer

What are the causes and effects of inflation?
Cause: printing too much money for not enough goods
Effects: inflation increases, economy is stimulated, increases of products, unemployment decreases

What is the difference between a liquidity crisis and a debt crisis?
Liquidity crisis: process is profitable, but money is tied up in inventory (illiquid)
Debt crisis: process is not profitable

What were the main causes of the US financial crisis in 2007-2008?
Liquidity crisis. Low interest rates, falling stock markets, sub-prime risk were loaned money, boom in housing

What kind of market failure afflicted the market for mortgage backed securities prior to the US financial crisis in 2007-2008?
However, since the mortgages have been bundled together, and then re-bundled again and again, and then these CMO created based on them...no one is quite sure where the bad debt is OR who is holding, except maybe the creators of the CMOs. This is a market failure: poor information and asymmetric information ("market for lemons")

Describe the types of market failures that afflict the provision of health insurance
Market Failures in Health Care Finance
1.Imperfect competition
2. Adverse selection
3.Asymmetric information
4.Incomplete information

Why do third parties tend to fail in US politics?
Both major parties align near the center to increase the maximum number of voters to appeal to (less drastic ideas appeal to more people). As a result both parties take up the majority of votes, and there is no place for a third party.

What were the major effects of the Great Depression on US domestic policy?
The vast majority of Americans now wanted government intervention into markets and felt it to be entirely legitimate!!!
-"New Deal" (rise of the Welfare State = idea that govt has a role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens.)

Why are judgments by the World Trade Organization offensive to many Americans?
threat to health, threat to our environment, threat to sovereignty, ability to make domestic policy as we see fit to protect ourselves

Who supported the domestic requirements for "dolphin-safe" tuna in the US and why?
-So big tuna canners get behind this dolphin-safe tuna movement and devised a consumer marketing campaign. Consumers were not willing to pay for it, so the canners turn to Congress. Big US tuna canners could afford to absorb the costs of Dolphin safe tuna, and also bought tuna internationally.

What kind of protectionist trade instrument should a US autoworker at Ford prefer?
-Import quotas: Direct restrictions on the quantity of a good that can be imported. Reduces competition that comes from foreign countries.
OR
-Local content requirements: government regulations requiring that some specified fraction of a foreign good be produced domestically.

What kind of market inefficiency is caused by imperfect information? How does it cause this inefficiency?
Imperfect information: If information on a good, service, or investment is bad or missing, then it clouds the ability of economic actors to make good decisions. It also drives up the costs and risks of economic activity. Where one party to a transaction has substantially more information than the other, you can get a "market for lemons" result. -In any case, information problems drive up the costs of economic activities and thereby shrink mark

What policy is the most efficient way for Americans to reduce their trade deficit?
Consume less (americans), spend less (govt), save more (everyone)

What was banned in the first Georgia colony?
Slaves, Alcohol, Catholics, and Lawyers

Why did the county-unit system contribute to the Democrat dominance of Georgia?
Although the rural counties accounted for only 32% of the state population in 1960, they controlled 59% of the total unit vote and the three least populous counties had the same voting power as the most populated county, and the rural counties leaned deomocrat

What caused the end of Georgia's county-unit system of voting?
In 1963 case "Gray v. Sanders" The Supreme Court found that the system violated the 'one man, one vote' principle

Explain how liberals, conservatives, socialists, and radicals differ from one another.
-Conservative = preserve existing institutions or restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
-Liberal = increase the liberty of each individual
-Progressive = scientific approach to government
-Socialist = fears power of the wealthy & corporations; seeks to reduce inequality via limits on private property
-Radical = seeks to overthrow existing system, often by revolution
-These labels often don't mean much today. Much is inconsistent, with no intellectual foundation, often purely emotional.