The Limits of Rationality

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226742415
Total Pages : 436 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (267 download)

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Book Synopsis The Limits of Rationality by : Karen Schweers Cook

Download or read book The Limits of Rationality written by Karen Schweers Cook and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-10-03 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prevailing economic theory presumes that agents act rationally when they make decisions, striving to maximize the efficient use of their resources. Psychology has repeatedly challenged the rational choice paradigm with persuasive evidence that people do not always make the optimal choice. Yet the paradigm has proven so successful a predictor that its use continues to flourish, fueled by debate across the social sciences over why it works so well. Intended to introduce novices to rational choice theory, this accessible, interdisciplinary book collects writings by leading researchers. The Limits of Rationality illuminates the rational choice paradigm of social and political behavior itself, identifies its limitations, clarifies the nature of current controversies, and offers suggestions for improving current models. In the first section of the book, contributors consider the theoretical foundations of rational choice. Models of rational choice play an important role in providing a standard of human action and the bases for constitutional design, but do they also succeed as explanatory models of behavior? Do empirical failures of these explanatory models constitute a telling condemnation of rational choice theory or do they open new avenues of investigation and theorizing? Emphasizing analyses of norms and institutions, the second and third sections of the book investigate areas in which rational choice theory might be extended in order to provide better models. The contributors evaluate the adequacy of analyses based on neoclassical economics, the potential contributions of game theory and cognitive science, and the consequences for the basic framework when unequal bargaining power and hierarchy are introduced.

Bounded Rationality

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Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262369656
Total Pages : 553 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (623 download)

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Book Synopsis Bounded Rationality by : Sanjit Dhami

Download or read book Bounded Rationality written by Sanjit Dhami and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-07-12 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two leaders in the field explore the foundations of bounded rationality and its effects on choices by individuals, firms, and the government. Bounded rationality recognizes that human behavior departs from the perfect rationality assumed by neoclassical economics. In this book, Sanjit Dhami and Cass R. Sunstein explore the foundations of bounded rationality and consider the implications of this approach for public policy and law, in particular for questions about choice, welfare, and freedom. The authors, both recognized as experts in the field, cover a wide range of empirical findings and assess theoretical work that attempts to explain those findings. Their presentation is comprehensive, coherent, and lucid, with even the most technical material explained accessibly. They not only offer observations and commentary on the existing literature but also explore new insights, ideas, and connections. After examining the traditional neoclassical framework, which they refer to as the Bayesian rationality approach (BRA), and its empirical issues, Dhami and Sunstein offer a detailed account of bounded rationality and how it can be incorporated into the social and behavioral sciences. They also discuss a set of models of heuristics-based choice and the philosophical foundations of behavioral economics. Finally, they examine libertarian paternalism and its strategies of “nudges.”

Policy Creation and Evaluation

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199735190
Total Pages : 230 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

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Book Synopsis Policy Creation and Evaluation by : Richard Hoefer

Download or read book Policy Creation and Evaluation written by Richard Hoefer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although practitioners do not often identify an explicit focus on social welfare policy, the analysis (what it is) and evaluation (what it does) of policy is basic to social work practice. This unique pocket guide presents a case study on one of the most important domestic policy decisions in the post-WWII era, the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996. This law ended welfare as we knew it by creating the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program and closing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program.Examining the law through three decision-making models assists readers in understanding TANF's historical antecedents, its political and power implications, and the way in which it meets social and economic goals. Individual chapters demonstrate how programs such as TANF are evaluated and the methods that can be used, such as primarily qualitative, primarily quantitative, and mixed methods evaluation techniques. Illustrating the advantages and disadvantages of each approach for evaluation, Hoefer makes use of the numerous studies undertaken in the thirteen years since welfare reform and its 2006 reauthorization. Part history text, readers will also learn about the details of the TANF legislation creation and evaluation, but will finish with a greater understanding of the policy creation and evaluation processes.This pocket guide will be useful to researchers and students of advanced social policy who seek to understand the two stages of policy-making, to develop policy, or to describe the impact of social policy on social problems.

Understanding Foreign Policy Decision Making

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139487221
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (394 download)

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Book Synopsis Understanding Foreign Policy Decision Making by : Alex Mintz

Download or read book Understanding Foreign Policy Decision Making written by Alex Mintz and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-02-22 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding Foreign Policy Decision Making presents a psychological approach to foreign policy decision making. This approach focuses on the decision process, dynamics, and outcome. The book includes a wealth of extended real-world case studies and examples that are woven into the text. The cases and examples, which are written in an accessible style, include decisions made by leaders of the United States, Israel, New Zealand, Cuba, Iceland, United Kingdom, and others. In addition to coverage of the rational model of decision making, levels of analysis of foreign policy decision making, and types of decisions, the book includes extensive material on alternatives to the rational choice model, the marketing and framing of decisions, cognitive biases, and domestic, cultural, and international influences on decision making in international affairs. Existing textbooks do not present such an approach to foreign policy decision making, international relations, American foreign policy, and comparative foreign policy.

Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory

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Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300187084
Total Pages : 415 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (1 download)

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Book Synopsis Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory by : Donald Green

Download or read book Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory written by Donald Green and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1994-09-28 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first comprehensive critical evaluation of the use of rational choice theory in political science. Writing in an accessible and nontechnical style, Donald P. Green and Ian Shapiro assess rational choice theory where it is reputed to be most successful: the study of collective action, the behavior of political parties and politicians, and such phenomena as voting cycles and Prisoner's Dilemmas. In their hard-hitting critique, Green and Shapiro demonstrate that the much heralded achievements of rational choice theory are in fact deeply suspect and that fundamental rethinking is needed if rational choice theorists are to contribute to the understanding of politics. In their final chapters, they anticipate and respond to a variety of possible rational choice responses to their arguments, thereby initiating a dialogue that is bound to continue for some time.

Rational Theory of International Politics

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400835135
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Rational Theory of International Politics by : Charles L. Glaser

Download or read book Rational Theory of International Politics written by Charles L. Glaser and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-26 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Within the realist school of international relations, a prevailing view holds that the anarchic structure of the international system invariably forces the great powers to seek security at one another's expense, dooming even peaceful nations to an unrelenting struggle for power and dominance. Rational Theory of International Politics offers a more nuanced alternative to this view, one that provides answers to the most fundamental and pressing questions of international relations. Why do states sometimes compete and wage war while at other times they cooperate and pursue peace? Does competition reflect pressures generated by the anarchic international system or rather states' own expansionist goals? Are the United States and China on a collision course to war, or is continued coexistence possible? Is peace in the Middle East even feasible? Charles Glaser puts forward a major new theory of international politics that identifies three kinds of variables that influence a state's strategy: the state's motives, specifically whether it is motivated by security concerns or "greed"; material variables, which determine its military capabilities; and information variables, most importantly what the state knows about its adversary's motives. Rational Theory of International Politics demonstrates that variation in motives can be key to the choice of strategy; that the international environment sometimes favors cooperation over competition; and that information variables can be as important as material variables in determining the strategy a state should choose.

Bounded Rationality and Policy Diffusion

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400828066
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Bounded Rationality and Policy Diffusion by : Kurt Weyland

Download or read book Bounded Rationality and Policy Diffusion written by Kurt Weyland and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-02-09 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do very different countries often emulate the same policy model? Two years after Ronald Reagan's income-tax simplification of 1986, Brazil adopted a similar reform even though it threatened to exacerbate income disparity and jeopardize state revenues. And Chile's pension privatization of the early 1980s has spread throughout Latin America and beyond even though many poor countries that have privatized their social security systems, including Bolivia and El Salvador, lack some of the preconditions necessary to do so successfully. In a major step beyond conventional rational-choice accounts of policy decision-making, this book demonstrates that bounded--not full--rationality drives the spread of innovations across countries. When seeking solutions to domestic problems, decision-makers often consider foreign models, sometimes promoted by development institutions like the World Bank. But, as Kurt Weyland argues, policymakers apply inferential shortcuts at the risk of distortions and biases. Through an in-depth analysis of pension and health reform in Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Peru, Weyland demonstrates that decision-makers are captivated by neat, bold, cognitively available models. And rather than thoroughly assessing the costs and benefits of external models, they draw excessively firm conclusions from limited data and overextrapolate from spurts of success or failure. Indications of initial success can thus trigger an upsurge of policy diffusion.

Beyond Rationality

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1316516350
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (165 download)

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Book Synopsis Beyond Rationality by : Alex Mintz

Download or read book Beyond Rationality written by Alex Mintz and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-12-02 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first textbook to present a framework of the Behavioral Political Science paradigm for understanding political decision-making.

Rationality and Power

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 9780226254494
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (544 download)

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Book Synopsis Rationality and Power by : Bent Flyvbjerg

Download or read book Rationality and Power written by Bent Flyvbjerg and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1998-02-28 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Enlightenment tradition, rationality is considered well-defined. However, the author of this study argues that rationality is context-dependent, and that the crucial context is determined by decision-makers' political power. He uses a real-world Danish project to illustrate this theory.

The Social Construction of Rationality

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Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1317530764
Total Pages : 217 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

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Book Synopsis The Social Construction of Rationality by : Onno Bouwmeester

Download or read book The Social Construction of Rationality written by Onno Bouwmeester and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-03-16 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are many different forms of rationality. In current economic discourse the main focus is on instrumental rationality and optimizing, while organization scholars, behavioural economists and policy scientists focus more on bounded rationality and satisficing. The interplay with value rationality or expressive rationality is mainly discussed in philosophy and sociology, but never in an empirical way. This book shows that not one, but three different forms of rationality (subjective, social and instrumental) determine the final outcomes of strategic decisions executed by major organizations. Based on an argumentation analysis of six high-profile public debates, this book adds nuance to the concept of bounded rationality. The chapters show how it is socially constructed, and thus dependent on shared beliefs or knowledge, institutional context and personal interests. Three double case studies investigating the three rationalities illustrate how decision makers and stakeholders discuss the appropriateness of these rationalities for making decisions in different practice contexts. The first touches more on personal concerns, like wearing a niqab or looking at obscene art exposed in a public environment; the second investigates debates on improving the rights and position of specific minorities; and the third is based on the agreement on instrumental reasons for two kinds of investments, but the cost arguments are regarded less relevant when social norms or personal interests are violated. The Social Construction of Rationality is for those who study political economy, economic psychology and public policy, as well as economic theory and philosophy.

The rationality of public policies

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Publisher : GRIN Verlag
ISBN 13 : 3656141207
Total Pages : 213 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (561 download)

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Book Synopsis The rationality of public policies by : Ani Matei

Download or read book The rationality of public policies written by Ani Matei and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2012-02-27 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2012 in the subject Politics - Political Theory and the History of Ideas Journal, , language: English, abstract: Nowadays, public policies represent the most adequate instrument of action in view to achieve the public interest, no matter we talk about European, national or local level. The rational approach of public policies, representing the topic of the current publication, is or should be a steady feature of public policy making and implementing. We find the origins of this approach both in key papers of political and administrative sciences, as well as in those concerning the theory of rational choice. In the current book, a direct, causal relationship is established between public administration, public policies and the theory of rational choice. The context of that relationship holds a great structural and functional complexity, demonstrating that the juxtaposition of the three mentioned fields is not enough. The mechanisms for their connection highlight links of various, non-linear intensities, in view of a finality which should be related every time to the public interest. The public interest is also defined further a process of public choice, more or less a rational one. It is quantified in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, thus supporting the need to introduce the cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness analyses as instruments for assessing the impact of public policies in our research. The book is structured in five chapters, attempting to analyse, in an integrating vision, a joint, interdisciplinary issue, which is boosted by public policies process on public administration in the context of incorporating the theory of rational choice. The first three chapters have a theoretical character, generally a descriptive one, the fourth and fifth chapters aim to identify the influences or “prints” of the theory of rational choice on public policy making at European and national level. The publication represents the outcome of researches achieved by authors in the framework of the Doctoral School in Administrative Sciences of the Faculty of Public Administration, National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest.

Politics as Rational Action

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9400989555
Total Pages : 281 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Politics as Rational Action by : L. Lewin

Download or read book Politics as Rational Action written by L. Lewin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most promising trends in modem political science is the develop ment of a theory of politics as rational action. Focussing on choice as the central topic of study, rational choice theorists set out to specify what alter native an actor should prefer if he has some given knowledge of the conse quences of each alternative and wants to see his preference system as fully realized as possible. But rational choice theory is not confmed to the norma tive sphere of science. It can also be used for explanatory purposes. Then, the alternatives actually chosen are specified and the task is to explain the decisions by fmding out what considerations lay behind them. The starting point for an emerging research program at the Department of Government, Uppsala University, on 'Politics as Rational Action' is to describe the major choices in fifteen different policy areas of Swedish domes tic politics and explain why they were made.

Decision Theory and Rationality

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Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191609455
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

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Book Synopsis Decision Theory and Rationality by : José Luis Bermúdez

Download or read book Decision Theory and Rationality written by José Luis Bermúdez and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-02-19 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept of rationality is a common thread through the human and social sciences — from political science to philosophy, from economics to sociology, and from management science to decision analysis. But what counts as rational action and rational behavior? José Luis Bermúdez explores decision theory as a theory of rationality. Decision theory is the mathematical theory of choice and for many social scientists it makes the concept of rationality mathematically tractable and scientifically legitimate. Yet rationality is a concept with several dimensions and the theory of rationality has different roles to play. It plays an action-guiding role (prescribing what counts as a rational solution of a given decision problem). It plays a normative role (giving us the tools to pass judgment not just on how a decision problem was solved, but also on how it was set up in the first place). And it plays a predictive/explanatory role (telling us how rational agents will behave, or why they did what they did). This controversial but accessible book shows that decision theory cannot play all of these roles simultaneously. And yet, it argues, no theory of rationality can play one role without playing the other two. The conclusion is that there is no hope of taking decision theory as a theory of rationality.

The World of the Policy Analyst

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 202 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis The World of the Policy Analyst by : Robert A. Heineman

Download or read book The World of the Policy Analyst written by Robert A. Heineman and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At all levels of government and at every stage of the policy process, analytical studies have remained distant from the power centers where decisions are made. This updated and expanded text has two purposes: to contribute to a more realistic understanding of policy analysis by examining the normative assumptions that are involved in its use; and to explore the essential elements of the policy process with which analysts must work to make their efforts count.

Political Choice

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000307166
Total Pages : 227 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (3 download)

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Book Synopsis Political Choice by : Roland M Czada

Download or read book Political Choice written by Roland M Czada and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-11 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, subtitled "political actors in institutional settings", addresses the main lines of reasoning of the new political institutionalism and rational choice theory. It discusses the question: Which particular rules, logics, or strategies of action can be found in the realm of politics?

Political Extremism and Rationality

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521804417
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (44 download)

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Book Synopsis Political Extremism and Rationality by : Albert Breton

Download or read book Political Extremism and Rationality written by Albert Breton and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-01-07 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political extremism is widely considered to be the product of irrational behavior. The distinguishing feature of this collection by well-known economists and political scientists from North America, Europe and Australia is to propose a variety of explanations which all insist on the rationality of extremism. Contributors use variants of this approach to shed light on subjects such as the conditions under which democratic parties take extremist positions, the relationship between extremism and conformism, the strategies adopted by revolutionary movements, and the reasons why extremism often leads to violence. The authors identify four core issues in the study of the phenomenon: the nature (definition) of extremism and its origins in both democratic and authoritarian settings, the capacity of democratic political systems to accommodate extremist positions, the strategies (civil disobedience, assassination, lynching) chosen by extremist groups, and the circumstances under which extremism becomes a threat to democracy.

How States Think

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Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300269307
Total Pages : 301 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis How States Think by : John J. Mearsheimer

Download or read book How States Think written by John J. Mearsheimer and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2023-01-01 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking examination of a central question in international relations: Do states act rationally? To understand world politics, you need to understand how states think. Are states rational? Much of international relations theory assumes that they are. But many scholars believe that political leaders rarely act rationally. The issue is crucial for both the study and practice of international politics, for only if states are rational can scholars and policymakers understand and predict their behavior. John J. Mearsheimer and Sebastian Rosato argue that rational decisions in international politics rest on credible theories about how the world works and emerge from deliberative decision‑making processes. Using these criteria, they conclude that most states are rational most of the time, even if they are not always successful. Mearsheimer and Rosato make the case for their position, examining whether past and present world leaders, including George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, have acted rationally in the context of momentous historical events, including both world wars, the Cold War, and the post-Cold War era. By examining this fundamental concept in a novel and comprehensive manner, Mearsheimer and Rosato show how leaders think, and how to make policy for dealing with other states.