Government policy is the broad area of laws, regulations, and decisions that affect our lives in a variety of ways. It includes everything from determining how many stop signs should be installed in a municipality to setting the conditions for accessing public funding for higher education or medical care. Policymaking is a complex process that has been influenced by socio-political factors for centuries, and is an established field of study.
A central objective of public policy is ensuring the success of endeavors that private or nonprofit groups cannot, or are unwilling to, take on themselves. This is often accomplished by leveraging the power of the state to achieve goals that would be intractable for any other entity. For example, it is hard to imagine the nonprofit sector massing resources to rebuild Europe or the private sector raising the capital necessary to build a national highway system.
Policymakers must first determine which problems merit government attention and define their natures. This involves a combination of scientific measurement and qualitative and quantitative data, along with the consideration of social and ideological values and beliefs.
In recent years, Americans have expressed skepticism about a number of their government’s most high-profile endeavors, including reforming taxes (only 17 percent rated this as very important), exploring space (16 percent), and controlling immigration (15 percent). Even the best-intentioned policies will create winners and losers. For example, a policy that promotes liberal arts colleges could lead to a decline in trade school enrollment.
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