The Rationality Paradox of Nudge: Rational Tools of Government in a World of Bounded Rationality

Nudge and the wider behavioral economics approach has become increasingly dominant in contemporary political and policy discourse. While much attention has been paid to the attractions and criticisms of nudge (such as liberal paternalism), this article argues that nudge is based on a rationality paradox in that it represents an approach that despite its emphasis on bounded rationality, does not reflect on its own limits to rationality. The article considers the implications of this paradox by considering mechanisms that influence government decision making and mechanisms that lead to unintended consequences in the context of policy interventions.     

What's in a word?

In this paper, we argue that citizens' views about the personality characteristics of their political leaders are subject to systematic bias, motivated by the desire to maintain existing impressions. We report two studies designed to explore how such trait biases, involving judgments of real politicians, are manifested. Drawing on work in social psychology (John, Hampson, and Goldberg, 1991), we hypothesize, and demonstrate experimentally, that traitbreadth plays a critical role in the judgment process. Specifically, people tend to select broad positive traits (e.g., kind) and narrower negative traits (gullible) to describe politicians that they like; conversely, people tend to select broad negative traits (unintelligent) and narrower positive traits (soft-hearted) to describe politicians that they dislike. This trait breadth attribution bias was much stronger among those who had a positive, rather than negative, impression of the politician, a result we discuss in the context of related evidence of affective asymmetries in political judgment (e.g., Kinder, 1986; Marcus and Mackuen, 1993). More generally, these studies illustrate the potential associated with integrating cognitive, affective, and motivational factors in the service of fully understanding political judgment and choice.     

Book reviews

Patterns of Democracy. Government Forms and Performance in Thirty‐Six Countries. By Arend Lijphart. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1999. Pp.351, biblio., index. £26 (cloth); £10.95 (paper) ISBN 0–300–07893–5.

Critical Citizens. Global Support for Democratic Governance. Edited by P. Norris. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp.xv + 303, 37 figures, 59 tables, biblio, index. £45 (cloth) ISBN 0–19–829479–4.

Continuity and Change in Contemporary Capitalism. Edited by H. Kitschelt, P. Lange, G. Marks and J.D. Stephens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp.xiii + 527, biblio, index. £45 (US$69.95) (cloth) ISBN 0–521–62446–2; £16.95 (US$27.95) (paper) ISBN 0–521–63496–0.

Comparative Public Policy ‐ Patterns of Post‐war Transformation. By Francis G. Castles. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 1998. Pp.368, £59.95 (cloth) ISBN 1–858989–816–0; £19.95 (paper) ISBN 1–858989–823–3.

The Political System of the European Union. By S. Hix. London: Macmillan, 1999. Pp.ix + 427, 52 tables and 28 figures, biblio, index. £16.99 (paper) ISBN 0–333–71654‐X; £49.50 (cloth) ISBN 0–333–71653–1.

The Long Presidency. France in the Mitterrand Years, 1981–1995. By Julius Friend. Boulder, CO and Oxford: Westview Press, 1998. Pp.xi + 308, biblio, index. £30.95 (cloth) ISBN 0–8133–2850–0.

Historical Dictionary of Modern Italy. Edited by Mark F. Gilbert and K. Robert Nilsson. The Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland and London, 1999. Pp.xxxvi + 463. 18 tables. $65 (cloth) ISBN 0–8108–3584–3

Zukunft der Sozialpartnerschaft: Veränderungsdynamik und Reformbedarf. Edited by F. Karlhofer and E. Tálos. Vienna: Signum, 1999. Pp.301, 9 tables, 3 figures, ATS 350 ISBN 3–85436–297–8.

Geografia della cittadinanza sociale in Italia. By Valeria Fargion. Bologna: II Mulino, 1997. Pp.351, biblio, index. L.45,000 (paper) ISBN 88–15–06127–4.     

英国“托护“青少年的心理健康问题

托护(1ooked after)青少年是指父母无力监护、监护不力以及受到家庭虐待的青少年.这类由政府专门机构或寄养家庭收养的青少年,他们的心理健康问题复杂多样.……     

The most significant lessons about the Most Significant Change technique

This article presents field-based insights into the application of the Most Significant Change (MSC) technique as a method to monitor social change resulting from a development intervention. Documentation of this innovative qualitative monitoring technique is slowly growing, but is mostly limited to grey literature. In particular, there is a lack of rigorous investigation to assess the complexities and challenges of applying the technique with integrity in the development context. The authors employ a conceptual model of monitoring and evaluation practicalities (the ‘M&E Data Cycle’) for a systematic examination of the challenges to, and key components of, successful application of the MSC technique. They provide a detailed analysis of how MSC was employed in two projects in Laos, extracting the lessons learned and insights generated. This practice-based information can inform future deployment of the MSC technique and contribute to its development     

Institutional Choice and Policy Transfer: Reforming British and German Railway Regulation

The notions of "policy learning" and "policy transfer" have become increasingly influential in the public-policy literature. By utilizing a comparative analysis of regulatory change in the railways in Britain and Germany, it is argued that an institutional approach adds to the understanding of "learning" and "transfer" processes, as well as explaining which institutions mattered as Britain and Germany adopted distinctively different regulatory regimes. The institutional approach points to the constraints involved in the selection of regulatory design ideas and, by assessing three institutional factors that structure relationships between the policy domain and its environments, suggests that in the case of railway privatization in Britain and Germany in the 1990s, it was the structure of the political-administrative nexus that centrally shaped why particular policy options were selected while others were neglected.     

Aesop With Variations: Civil Service Competency as A Case of German Tortoise and British Hare?

Among the most widely used stereotypes in the contemporary literature on public management reform is to portray German administrative policy as that of a slow-moving 'tortoise' in contrast to the fast-moving reform 'hare'. Taking civil service competency as a point of analysis, this article questions the validity of these widely held assumptions. It does so in three steps. Following a brief comparative narrative of competency initiatives in the German and British higher civil services, the article explores to what extent the observed 'Aesop with variation' pattern can be explained. It suggests that the variations can only to a limited extent be explained by 'civil service competency exceptionalism' and that there therefore seems to be something wrong with the way that Germany and the UK are conventionally categorized in the international public management reform literature.     

Government,corporate or social power? The internet as a tool in the struggle for dominance in public policy

This paper sets out to demonstrate to corporations the need to monitor closely and to respond genuinely to public opinion. It predicts a rise in the power of citizens and a government response to that power that will include regulation to protect social and environmental interests. The paper gives an overview of the ways in which the economic sector, embodied in corporations, has risen to and maintained a position of dominance both within nation states and globally. It provides a model that illustrates the power relationship between corporations, governments and the public, noting in particular that the fundamental key to corporate dominance is the positioning of the public as consumers. Using the framework of legitimation, the paper then demonstrates and theorises the rise of opposition to the dominant order and the corporate and government responses to such opposition. It is proposed that these responses may be insufficient to maintain corporate dominance and that a new model is likely to gain ascendance. In this new model the public make a shift from consumers to citizens in order to reassert their role in governance. Internet sites of activist groups are examined in order to determine the ways in which the sites are used as a tool to facilitate a shift towards the second model. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications