Skip to ContentGo to accessibility page
OpenStax Logo
American Government 4e

Review Questions

American Government 4eReview Questions

Review Questions

1.

Which of the following is not an example of a public policy outcome?

  1. the creation of a program to combat drug trafficking
  2. the passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
  3. the passage of tax cuts during the George W. Bush administration
  4. none of the above; all are public policy outcomes
2.

Public policy ________.

  1. is more of a theory than a reality
  2. is typically made by one branch of government acting alone
  3. requires multiple actors and branches to carry out
  4. focuses on only a few special individuals
3.

What are some of the challenges to getting a new public policy considered and passed as law?

4.

Toll goods differ from public goods in that ________.

  1. they provide special access to some and not all
  2. they require the payment of a fee up front
  3. they provide a service for only the wealthy
  4. they are free and available to all
5.

Which type of policy directly benefits the most citizens?

  1. regulatory policy
  2. distributive policy
  3. redistributive policy
  4. self-regulatory policy
6.

Of the types of goods introduced in this section, which do you feel is the most important to the public generally and why? Which public policies are most important and why?

7.

Social Security and Medicare are notable for their assistance to which group?

  1. the poor
  2. young families starting out
  3. those in urban areas
  4. the elderly
8.

Setting aside Social Security and Medicare, other entitlement programs in the U.S. government ________.

  1. constitute over half the budget
  2. constitute well under one-quarter of the budget
  3. are paid for by the states with no cost to the Federal government
  4. none of the above
9.

What societal ills are social welfare programs designed to address?

10.

Which stage of the public policy process includes identification of problems in need of fixing?

  1. agenda setting
  2. enactment
  3. implementation
  4. evaluation
11.

Policy analysts seek ________.

  1. evidence
  2. their chosen outputs
  3. influence
  4. money
12.

In the implementation phase of the policy process, is it better to use a top-down approach or a bottom-up approach on Federal policies? Why?

13.

A deficit is ________.

  1. the overall amount owed by government for past borrowing
  2. the annual budget shortfall between revenues and expenditures
  3. the cancellation of an entitlement program
  4. all the above
14.

Entitlement (or mandatory) spending is ________.

  1. formula-based spending that goes to individual citizens
  2. a program of contracts to aerospace companies
  3. focused on children
  4. concentrated on education
15.

When times are tough economically, what can the government do to get the economy moving again?

PreviousNext
Order a print copy
Citation/Attribution
Reuse and redistribution of this content in digital or print format:
  • This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's prior written permission.
  • This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, which means that you can reuse and modify the material only for noncommercial purposes, must attribute OpenStax, and must distribute any derivative works under the same license.
  • Any commercial printing of this textbook, including using a local or custom printer, must be approved by OpenStax, and proper citation provided.
  • OpenStax-copyrighted images, activities, assessments, and similar components of this book are subject to the same licensing – CC-BY-NC-SA. They can be used for noncommercial purposes with attribution. Commercial use requires permission.
  • Permission requests: Anyone who intends to incorporate this content (including text, images, and other components) into large language models, use it in AI offerings, use it commercially (including in print), and/or has questions about another use case is welcome to complete our reuse request form.
Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/american-government-4e/pages/1-introduction

  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial digital format, then for every page that includes OpenStax content, you must license the derivative work under the same CC-BY-NC-SA license as the original, and include on every digital page view the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/american-government-4e/pages/1-introduction

Citation information

The information below includes the information needed to generate citations in most major styles (APA, MLA, etc.); you must reformat and organize the information as needed to fit the requirements of the style. Use the information below to generate a citation. We recommend using a citation tool such as this one.

© Apr 23, 2026 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo, and Rice University name, and Rice University logo trademarks, or wordmarks are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.