Page:  of 284
 

mentally shift demand curves without any changes in regulatory policies. A full
theory of morality politics needs to incorporate these demand shifts.


The Question of Supply

The present theory generally ignores the supply side of sin. Some individuals
cannot sin simply because no one is willing to provide the product in question
( Morgan and Meier 1980). 16 Sinning is obviously easier in San Francisco than
in Sisseton, South Dakota. Many Sisseton residents never get the opportunity to
try heroin or purchase sexual services. A complete theory of morality politics
needs to incorporate the supply side of sin and derive equilibrium models of the
policy process.


Conclusion

This chapter addressed three questions: Why are morality policies adopted? Why
do they sometimes change into redistributive policies? Why do morality policies
fail? A great deal of empirical work has addressed these questions and has built
a large collection of findings. Quite clearly, morality politics generates two sets
of relatively unique patterns of politics--sin politics and redistributive politics--
that produce policies with a given set of characteristics. These consistencies were
the logical result of a few simple assumptions about sin and the people who sin.

At the same time, the unique patterns of morality politics should not blind
one to the commonalities that they have with other types of public policy. My
belief is that the relatively parsimonious models here can be applied to other
forms of policy so that this chapter can serve as the first step in using morality
policy as a stepping stone (gateway drug?) to a general reformulation of the study
of public policy. The basic concepts used here apply equally well to distributive
policies, regulatory policies, and other redistributive policies.

To illustrate briefly, I note how three main types of policies can be gener-
ally fit into this framework. In regulatory policies that do not attempt to regu-
late sin (e.g, environmental regulation, utility regulation), full information often
exists so that the perception of demand accurately reflects actual demand. The
result should be median voter policies that respond to the relative influence of
advocacy coalitions. Distributive policies simply reframe the density of demand
distributions as a free lunch rather than as sin. These are policies using the frame
that everyone is thus better off generating the politics of pork and inclusion. A
key variable is whether bureaucracy possesses policy-relevant expertise and, thus,
actually allocates the pork. Redistributive policies are much the same as they are
in this chapter, but the basis for redistribution is economics rather than values.

-34-

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com

Publication Information: Book Title: The Public Clash of Private Values: The Politics of Morality Policy. Contributors: Christopher Z. Mooney - editor. Publisher: Chatham House Publishers. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 2001. Page Number: 34.
    
This feature allows you to create and manage separate folders for your different research projects. To view markups for a different project, make that project your current project.
This feature allows you to save a link to the publication you are reading or view all the publications you have put on your bookshelf.
This feature allows you to save a link to the page you are reading, which you can later return to from Projects.
This feature allows you to highlight words or phrases on the publication page you are reading.
This feature allows you to save a note you write on the publication page you are reading.
This feature allows you to create a citation to the page you are reading that you can paste into your paper. Highlight a passage to include that passage as a quotation.
This feature allows you to save a reference to a publication you are reading for your bibliography or generate a bibliography you can paste into your paper.
This feature allows you to print the page you are reading, including your notes or highlights (IE users must have "print background colors and image" setting selected.)
This feature allows you to look up words in encyclopedia.
  About Questia Tools
Close Window  
Questia's powerful research tools allow you to highlight, take notes, bookmark and even create instant citations and bibliographies. To use these features and save hours of work, you must create a Questia account.
Need a Questia account?
Sign up for a FREE trial now. Save time, stress and hassle, and get better grades with trusted, online research.

» Click here for our free trial

Already have a Questia account? Login now!
Error
Working...
Printing Preferences
Format for black and white printer: On Off
Print highlights: On Off
Print notes: On Off
Choose one of the options for printing:
Print this page (No Charge)
Print pages to