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Choice Theory (choice + theory)
Kinds of Choice Theory Selected AbstractsThe Performance of State,Owned Enterprises RevisitedFINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2002Richard Bozec Many theoretical and empirical studies look at the ownership,performance relationship. So far, the literature in finance and in accounting mainly refers to the property rights, agency and public choice theories. Despite the fact that the results of these studies are more or less conclusive, it is usually considered that the private enterprise performs better than the state,owned enterprise. In this article, we argue that these studies suffer from one major limitation. They do not recognize that the goals of the state,owned enterprise are different from the ones espoused by the private firm. Using a sample of state,owned entreprises and private firms for the period 1976,1996, we present empirical evidence that the state,owned enterprises, when their main goal is to maximize profit, perform as well as the privately owned enterprises. Therefore, the alleged under,performance of the state,owned enterprises may only be the result of pursuing other goals while the poor quality of public managers may be another urban myth. [source] Stochastic rationality and Möbius inverseINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY, Issue 3 2005Antoine Billot C71; D46; D63 Discrete choice theory is very much dominated by the paradigm of the maximization of a random utility, thus implying that the probability of choosing an alternative in a given set is equal to the sum of the probabilities of all the rankings for which this alternative comes first. This property is called stochastic rationality. In turn, the choice probability system is said to be stochastically rationalizable if and only if the Block,Marschak polynomials are all nonnegative. In the present paper, we show that each particular Block,Marschak polynomial can be defined as the probability that the decision-maker faces the loss in flexibility generated by the fact that a particular alternative has been deleted from the choice set. [source] A Case for Homogeneity of Personality at the Occupational LevelINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SELECTION AND ASSESSMENT, Issue 2 2009Robert C. Satterwhite The forces of attraction,selection,attrition have been hypothesized to create homogeneity of personality within organizations, and vocational choice theory predicts that these forces lead to a ,modal personality' within given occupations. This study compared the homogeneity of a set of personality characteristics for 6582 incumbents from eight organizations in eight occupations. The results indicated that (1) the homogeneity hypothesis was supported both within organizations as well as within occupations; and (2) the homogeneity within occupations was higher than that found in organizations. [source] Free and Cheap Riding in Strict, Conservative ChurchesJOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION, Issue 2 2005DANIEL V. A. OLSON Iannaccone (1994) uses rational choice theory to argue that strict rules (e.g., no smoking or drinking) raise average commitment levels in conservative churches because strictness discourages free riding. Tests of this assertion have been hampered, in part, by uncertainties concerning how free riding should be measured. We introduce a new, indirect measure of free (and cheap) riding, the level of positive skewness of a congregation's money contributions,that is, the extent to which a few members give much more than the mean amount while the majority gives much less. Using a study of giving in five denominations, we find that strict, conservative congregations have both higher mean giving and less skewness in the pattern of their giving. The higher mean-contribution levels at strict, conservative congregations are not simply due to each member giving more or a few members giving a lot more. Instead, as Iannaccone's model predicts, some combination of strict rules and/or conservative theology appears to systematically limit the proportion of free- and cheap-riding members giving far less than the mean and thus increase the proportion giving at or above the mean. [source] Never on Sunny Days: Lessons from Weekly Attendance CountsJOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION, Issue 2 2004Laurence R. Iannaccone Congregational attendance data are abundant, accessible, and relevant for religious research. Weekly attendance histories provide information about worshippers, congregations, and denominations that surveys cannot capture. The histories yield novel measures of commitment, testable implications of rational choice theory, and compelling evidence that attendance responds strongly to changes in the opportunity cost of time. [source] Testing the assumptions of the ideal despotic distribution with an unpredictable food supply: experiments in juvenile salmonJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2005AMANDA MACLEAN Summary 1Models linking the behaviours of individual animals, their positions within socially complex groups and spatio-temporal variation in resource distribution offer a promising base for predicting population responses to changing environments. The ideal free and despotic distributions and their derivatives are particularly influential in this regard. 2Due to the difficulties of conducting work in the wild, for some groups of animals such models are often based on observations of animals in small-scale systems under conditions that are well controlled, but unnaturally simple. 3Using an experimental system based on field observations of home range size and variation in food availability, the present study tested whether models derived using small-scale laboratory observations are valid for juvenile Atlantic salmon in more natural conditions. 4Contrary to predictions, we found no differences in behaviour between the control fish (which experienced consistently rich feeding patches) and the experimental fish (which experienced unpredictable 10-fold changes in patch quality). 5Also contrary to predictions, in the variable condition, salmon used high quality patches (which were an order of magnitude better than low quality patches) only marginally (5%) more than would be expected if they were to forage at random. There was significant variation in foraging strategies between individual fish, with 28% of the population making non-random use of foraging patches. 6The only apparent systematic relationship between social rank and use of foraging patches was that fish that were both dominant and made many moves between feeding locations tended to leave rich patches less frequently than they left poor patches. 7Despite the low correlation between patch quality and movement, there was substantial movement of fish among patches. Forty-four per cent of moves followed aggressive interactions and most others were spontaneous, with no obvious motivating factor apparent. 8The study exposes a discrepancy between expectations derived from the basic concepts of patch choice theory and the behaviour of Atlantic salmon in the conditions pertaining in the present study. 9It is suggested that this discrepancy may arise both from the fact that applicability of patch choice models may be very sensitive to the stability of differences in patch quality and from uncertainties about the costs of habitat sampling. [source] Rational Choice and Interpretive Evidence: Caught between a Rock and a Hard Place?POLITICAL STUDIES, Issue 1 2010Iain Hampsher-Monk Following Green and Shapiro's critique, debate about the value of rational choice theory has focused upon the question of its relationship to what we call ,external', largely quantitative, empirical evidence. We argue that what is most striking about rational choice theory is, however, its neglect of interpretive evidence. Our survey of 570 articles, published in the American Political Science Review and the American Journal of Political Science between 1984 and 2005 employing rational choice theory, revealed that only 139 made even the most cursory use of interpretive evidence. Does this matter? We argue that the absence of interpretive evidence undermines rational choice's explanatory credentials. However, we also argue that the admission of interpretive evidence risks rendering redundant the rational choice element of any explanation. This is the rock and the hard place between which rational choice is caught. In the final part of the article we distinguish those cases where rational choice may prove useful, namely those circumstances in which interpretive evidence either cannot be relied upon or does not subsume that which an explanation is intended to achieve. [source] A Rational Choice Approach to Explaining Policy Preferences and Concern for Representing Women among State LegislatorsPOLITICS & POLICY, Issue 1 2010DONALD E. WHISTLER Rational choice theory predicts that women, when significantly involved in the production of private competitive goods and services, will adopt the same self-interested political orientation as similarly economically situated men. Guided by this approach, this nationwide survey of state legislators finds that competitive occupational background significantly reduces support for representing distributive,redistributive policy among both women and men legislators. However, it also finds that women legislators in general, as well as women holding leadership positions, retain a significant concern for representing women. Democratic Party affiliation and noncompetitive occupational background predict support for distributive,redistributive policies among women and men legislators, while only Democratic Party affiliation predicts concern for representing women among women and men legislators. Other explanatory variables (i.e., lower education, liberal ideology, African-Americans, lower-socioeconomic status districts, and political ambition) are in the direction hypothesized to influence representing distributive,redistributive policies and women but are not all statistically significant. La teoría de la decisión racional predice que cuando las mujeres se involucran significativamente en la producción de bienes y servicios competitivos, adoptarán la misma orientación política de búsqueda de sus intereses personales que los hombres similarmente situados económicamente. Guiados por este enfoque, esta encuesta nacional de los legisladores estatales encuentra que los antecedentes profesionales competitivos reducen significativamente el apoyo entre mujeres así como hombres legisladores para representar políticas distributivas-redistributivas. Sin embargo, encuentra que en general, las mujeres legisladoras, así como aquellas mujeres que desempeñan posiciones de autoridad, conservan una preocupación significativa por representar a las mujeres. Por su parte, tanto afiliación al Partido Demócrata como antecedentes ocupacionales no-competitivos, predicen apoyo entre las mujeres y los hombres legisladores, a políticas distributivas-redistributivas, mientras que sólo afiliación al Partido Demócrata predice preocupación entre las mujeres y los hombres legisladores por representar a las mujeres. Otras variables que pueden explicar esto (i.e., educación baja, ideología liberal, Afroamericanos, distritos con bajo nivel socioeconómico, y ambición política) están en la dirección hipotetizada para influir la representación de las políticas distributivas-redistributivas y de mujeres, pero no todas son estadísticamente significativas. [source] Persuasion in International Politics: A Rationalist AccountPOLITICS & POLICY, Issue 4 2005James I. Walsh Governments offer us the promise of rewards or the threats of punishment to secure favorable international bargains, but they also draw on reasoned arguments to convince their bargaining partners to accept mutually beneficial agreements. Works that have studied such attempts at persuasion hold that it is most likely to succeed when the states involved share important normative values or are uncertain about what is the "right" action to take. Drawing on rational choice theory of strategic communication, this study seeks to expand understanding the conditions under which attempts at persuasion in international politics succeed or fail. Persuasion can occur for reasons other than shared values; under some conditions, one state can persuade another by altering the latter's beliefs about the rewards associated with available foreign policy options. [source] Unraveling the Logic of ASEAN's Decision-Making: Theoretical Analysis and Case ExaminationASIAN POLITICS AND POLICY, Issue 3 2010Yi-hung Chiou Throughout its history, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has based decisions on consensus and consultation, producing a loosely defined, weak regional organization. The results of nonbinding and watered-down resolutions make substantial progress for ASEAN difficult. This article explores the logic of ASEAN's decision-making by applying rational choice theory. It argues that the characteristics of ASEAN's decision-making mechanism allow member states to base their actions on how individual nations perceive their interests to be best served by group resolutions. By constructing a series of hypotheses to pattern ASEAN's decision-making, this article examines four cases and how players resolved each. The findings suggest that the constraints of group decision-making and divergent interests between member states play a major role in shaping the effectiveness of resolutions. [source] The Puzzle of Financial Reporting and Corporate Short-Termism: A Universal Ownership PerspectiveAUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW, Issue 4 2009Michael E. Drew This study considers the controversy surrounding financial reporting and corporate short-termism as a puzzle. The question remains as to why corporate managers and investors persist in exhibiting behaviours that trade off long-term value creation for meeting short-term financial targets. Using inter-temporal choice theory, the myopia characterising decision-making is entirely rational, given the set of incentives faced. This study views the puzzle through the prism of universal owners (pension and superannuation funds), arguing that the investment policies or ,mandates' implemented by these financial behemoths is the source of the myopic behaviour. The paper explores a range of policies that universal owners may consider implementing to ensure that the payoffs to corporate managers and investors are optimised through the pursuit of long-termism. [source] A RIGHT TO REPRODUCE?BIOETHICS, Issue 8 2010MUIREANN QUIGLEY ABSTRACT How should we conceive of a right to reproduce? And, morally speaking, what might be said to justify such a right? These are just two questions of interest that are raised by the technologies of assisted reproduction. This paper analyses the possible legitimate grounds for a right to reproduce within the two main theories of rights; interest theory and choice theory. [source] | |||||||||||||