I'll have what she's having: (Social) Perceptions of default options and implications for marketing and decision making

The power that default options have in shaping choice has been well established, yet relatively little is known about how decision makers experience and interpret such preselected options. Research suggests that individuals assume defaults represent a recommended course of action, yet the basis for this recommendation is unclear. Across two experimental studies, we explored consumer theories of default recommendations, examining spontaneous and experimentally manipulated perceptions of the basis of the default, and the impact on decision making across different contexts. Evidence across diverse populations and tasks shows that options were retained to a greater extent when represented as the default, consistent with classic default effects. Furthermore, a significant default effect emerged when the decision context was framed as complex. In line with research on social influence, defaults were most effective when they were presumed to reflect the most popular option (regardless of context). Interestingly, participants rated defaults as being more likely to represent the most popular option, regardless of decision context or default explanation provided to them. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the contexts in which default choices are relied upon and how those defaults are perceived by decision makers.     

Tax instruments as constraints on the disposition of public revenues

This paper examines the possible selection of tax instruments as means of inducing a Leviathan-like government to provide the public goods and services that taxpayer-beneficiaries desire. The analysis is conducted in a constitutional setting, in which potential taxpayers-beneficiaries confront choices among tax instruments, when these are taken to be the primary constraints on the behavior of government in postconstitutional periods. The analysis suggests a particular form of earmarking; each expenditure is allotted a particular tax base that is highly complementary with the public good itself. The complementarity between tax base and the corresponding public good is the central relationship that exerts discipline on government. Arguments for this type of earmarking have not, to our knowledge, been previously developed in tax theory.     

Politics as Tragedy in Several Acts

James Madison noted that government would be unnecessary if men were angels. The shortfall of value between the idealized anarchy of a society of angels and the society of men as they are measures the tragedy of politics, which emerges at several levels. Resources are required for the maintenance of order, and those agents who are guardians of order will not, themselves, be angels. Further, rents promised to such agents will attract efforts at capture. Reductions in the measure of the tragedy remain possible through both shifts in ethical standards, at all levels, and shifts in institutional-constitutional structures.     

FAILURE, UNCERTAINTY AND CONTROL: THE ROLE OF OPERATORS IN A COMPUTER INTEGRATED PRODUCTION SYSTEM

This article presents the findings of a case study which analyzed how new electronics and computing technology affected the role of process operators in a continuous process plant manufacturing pigments in Scotland. the first stage of the research was a participant observation study of the site over two years. Three years later, production managers and operators were interviewed, and an observation study was carried out over one full shift in the plant studied. the results demonstrate that the process operators required considerable skill, knowledge, experience and training to deal with process faults, cope with contingencies, and to control the process effectively. the operators reported that they found interest and challenge in the work. the impact of technical change on the quality of working life was, however, equivocal. the operators’ mobility was constrained, they were isolated from the rest of the plant, some messy manual tasks remained, and they were still dependent on the technical and chemical expertise of management and engineering staff to handle serious problems. Other operators were less enthusiastic about the work. Management expected the new systems to reduce human intervention and control. But the limitations of the computer controls and the high cost of error meant that effective production was more dependent on human presence and ability than in simpler batch production. Advances in computing technology may highlight the conflict between management desires to reduce human operator control and to design effective integrated production systems.     

INTEREST GROUPS,DEMOCRACY, AND POLICY VOLATILITY

Democratic polities appear to produce more stable policy than do autocracies. In this paper, we explore a potential source of the policy stability observed in democracies: special‐interest groups. We find that interest groups are associated with greater stability in some measures of policy and that groups mediate the stabilizing impact of democracy on policy. We also find that the impact of interest groups on policy volatility depends on the degree of polarization in a society. (JEL P16, O43, D7)