Economic Policy Research Paper

Overview

The purpose of this assignment is to apply what you
have been doing in your policy brief assignments to an analysis of two (and
only two) pieces of legislation regarding a specific topic of your
choosing.  Along with a detailed
introduction of the problem, the root causes of the problem, a review of the
competing political interpretations of the problem, and the impacts of doing
nothing, you will provide an analysis using the May, Can, Should model for both
pieces of legislation that compares and contrasts the two based on identified
strengths and weaknesses. 

Instructions

This is best done in the following manner:

May

Constitutional authority – what is the Constitutional authority
for the federal government to get involved?  Avoid the use of the General
Welfare clause as it becomes a catch-all for anything that a politician wants
to get passed.

Can

Financial feasibility – what is the policy expected to do to the
national debt or spending?  For example, the new COVID stimulus just put
us another $2 trillion in debt but was widely supported by both politicians and
the public.

Practical feasibility – what are the logistical resources needed
for implementation (buildings, personnel, new programs, etc.) and what are the
steps for implementation (ex; the Affordable Care Act needed functional
websites in order to be implemented, the lack of these created severe problems
with implementation). 

Should

The goal of this is to
critically analyze a Criminal Justice policy to objectively determine if the
federal government should be legitimately involved in the policy being
discussed and if the policy is right for the country. 

You are expected to submit a 10 – 12-page paper (not
including the title page, abstract, and reference page) in current APA format
in which the May-Can-Should model is applied in the context of the policy
focus. Be certain to emphasize a focused analysis of two specific federal policies
(either already implemented or proposed) chosen from a policy concentration area
of your choosing. You must include citations from:

You must include citations from:

1.    
All the required reading
presentations from Modules/Week 1–2,

2.    
The course texts, and

3.    
15–20 additional scholarly
sources. 

4.    
Please feel free to use the link
provided in the assignment resources for the purposes of additional
research.  Not all the sources in this
link are necessarily considered “peer reviewed” or “scholarly”, but it is a good
start.