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Rational Choice (rational + choice)
Terms modified by Rational Choice Selected AbstractsRational Choice and Developmental Influences on Recidivism Among Adolescent Felony OffendersJOURNAL OF EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 4 2007Jeffrey Fagan Recent case law and social science both have claimed that the developmental limitations of adolescents affect their capacity for control and decision making with respect to crime, diminishing their culpability and reducing their exposure to punishment. Social science has focused on two concurrent adolescent developmental influences: the internalization of legal rules and norms that regulate social and antisocial behaviors, and the development of rationality to frame behavioral choices and decisions. The interaction of these two developmental processes, and the identification of one domain of socialization and development as the primary source of motivation or restraint in adolescence, is the focus of this article. Accordingly, we combine rational choice and legal socialization frameworks into an integrated, developmental model of criminality. We test this framework in a large sample of adolescent felony offenders who have been interviewed at six-month intervals for two years. Using hierarchical and growth curve models, we show that both legal socialization and rational choice factors influence patterns of criminal offending over time. When punishment risks and costs are salient, crime rates are lower over time. We show that procedural justice is a significant antecedent of legal socialization, but not of rational choice. We also show that both mental health and developmental maturity moderate the effects of perceived crime risks and costs on criminal offending. [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] The Limits of Rational Choice: New Institutionalism in the Test Bed of Central Banking Politics in AustraliaPOLITICAL STUDIES, Issue 3 2002Stephen Bell This paper tests the explanatory capacities of different versions of new institutionalism by examining the Australian case of a general transition in central banking practice and monetary politics: namely, the increased emphasis on low inflation and central bank independence. Standard versions of rational choice institutionalism largely dominate the literature on the politics of central banking, but this approach (here termed RC1) fails to account for Australian empirics. RC1 has a tendency to establish actor preferences exogenously to the analysis; actors'motives are also assumed a priori; actor's preferences are depicted in relatively static, ahistorical terms. And there is the tendency, even a methodological requirement, to assume relatively simple motives and preference sets among actors, in part because of the game theoretic nature of RC1 reasoning. It is possible to build a more accurate rational choice model by re-specifying and essentially updating the context, incentives and choice sets that have driven rational choice in this case. Enter RC2. However, this move subtly introduces methodological shifts and new theoretical challenges. By contrast, historical institutionalism uses an inductive methodology. Compared with deduction, it is arguably better able to deal with complexity and nuance. It also utilises a dynamic, historical approach, and specifies (dynamically) endogenous preference formation by interpretive actors. Historical institutionalism is also able to more easily incorporate a wider set of key explanatory variables and incorporate wider social aggregates. Hence, it is argued that historical institutionalism is the preferred explanatory theory and methodology in this case. [source] Theory, Stylized Heuristic or Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2004The Status of Rational Choice Theory in Public Administration Rational choice is intimately associated with positivism and naturalism, its appeal to scholars of public administration lying in its ability to offer a predictive science of politics that is parsimonious in its analytical assumptions, rigorous in its deductive reasoning and overarching in its apparent applicability. In this paper I re-examine the ontology and epistemology which underpins this distinctive approach to public administration, challenging the necessity of the generally unquestioned association between rational choice and both positivism and naturalism. Rational choice, I contend, can only defend its claim to offer a predictive science of politics on the basis of an ingenious, paradoxical, and seldom acknowledged structuralism and a series of analytical assumptions incapable of capturing the complexity and contingency of political systems. I argue that analytical parsimony, though itself a condition of naturalism, is in fact incompatible with the deduction of genuinely explanatory/causal inferences. This suggests that the status of rational choice as an explanatory/predictive theory needs to be reassessed. Yet this is no reason to reject rational choice out of hand. For, deployed not as a theory in its own right, but as a heuristic analytical strategy for exploring hypothetical scenarios, it is a potent and powerful resource in post-positivist public administration. [source] Cells meeting our immunophenotypic criteria of endothelial cells are large plateletsCYTOMETRY, Issue 2 2007Michiel H. Strijbos Abstract Background Circulating endothelial cells (CEC) are shed from damaged vasculature, making them a rational choice to serve as surrogate marker for vascular damage. Currently, various techniques and CEC definitions are in use, and their standardization and validation is needed. A flow cytometric single platform assay defining CEC as forward light scatter (FSC)low-to-intermedate, sideward light scatter (SSC)low, CD45,, CD31++ and CD146+ is a promising approach to enumerate CEC because of its simplicity (Mancuso et al., Blood 2001;97:3658,3661). Here, we set out to confirm the endothelial nature of these cells. Methods We isolated cells with a FSClow-to-intermediate, SSClow, CD31++, CD45dim immunophenotype (termed "cells meeting our immunophenotypic criteria for endothelial cells" [CMOIC]) from healthy donors to study the expression of endothelium-associated markers using several techniques. Special attention was paid to reagents identifying the endothelial cell-specific marker CD146. We compared antigen expression patterns of CMOIC with those of the HUVEC endothelial cell line and lymphocytes. Electron microscopy was used to detect the presence of endothelial cell-specific Weibel,Palade bodies in the sorted cells. Results CD146 expression was negative on CMOIC for all tested CD146 mAbs, but positive on HUVEC cells and a minor subset of T lymphocytes. Using flow cytometry, we found no expression of any endothelium-associated marker except for CD31 and CD34. HUVEC cells were positive for all endothelial markers except for CD34. Evaluation of CMOIC morphology showed a homogenous population of cells with a highly irregular nucleus-like structure and positive endothelial immunohistochemistry. CMOIC contained neither nuclei nor DNA. Electron microscopy revealed the absence of a nucleus, the absence of endothelial specific Weibel,Palade bodies, and revealed CMOIC to be large platelets. Conclusion The vast majority of cells with the immunophenotype FSClow-to-intermediate, SSClow, CD45,, CD31++ do not express CD146 and are large platelets rather than endothelial cells. © 2007 Clinical Cytometry Society. [source] Defining Economics: The Long Road to Acceptance of the Robbins DefinitionECONOMICA, Issue 2009ROGER E. BACKHOUSE Robbins' Essay gave economics a definition that came to dominate the professional literature. This definition laid a foundation that could be seen as justifying both the narrowing of economic theory to the theory of constrained maximization or rational choice and economists' ventures into other social science fields. Though often presented as self-evidently correct, both the definition itself and the developments that it has been used to support were keenly contested. This paper traces the reception, diffusion and contesting of the Robbins definition, arguing that this process took around three decades and that even then there was still significant dissent. [source] IS EDUCATIONAL POLICY MAKING RATIONAL , AND WHAT WOULD THAT MEAN, ANYWAY?EDUCATIONAL THEORY, Issue 5 2009Eric Bredo In Moderating the Debate: Rationality and the Promise of American Education, Michael Feuer raises concerns about the consequences of basing educational policy on the model of rational choice drawn from economics. Policy making would be better and more realistic, he suggests, if it were based on a newer procedural model drawn from cognitive science. In this essay Eric Bredo builds on Feuer's analysis by offering a more systematic critique of the traditional model of rationality that Feuer criticizes, a more critical evaluation of the procedural model that he favors, and a recommendation that the situational model he does not consider may have some benefits over both. This analysis shows that the traditional model presupposes an actor that cannot learn or develop. While the actor in the procedural model can learn, Bredo contends that it cannot develop, that is, it cannot outgrow its initial assumptions and values. Only the situational model allows for learning and development, important in a model to be used in the field of education. Bredo also considers in his analysis the social-relational assumptions built into the traditional, procedural, and situational models and the likely ethical consequences of acting on them. [source] TOWARD A SEMIOTIC THEORY OF CHOICE AND OF LEARNINGEDUCATIONAL THEORY, Issue 3 2006Andrew Stables Such a view, Stables and Gough argue, has the potential to displace or circumvent essentially Cartesian models currently dominant within learning theory (cognitivism and responses to it) and within neoclassical economics (rational choice and responses to it). It thus enables synergies between theories of learning and of economic behavior, allowing for greater consistency in thinking about (but not necessarily prescribing for) both educational policy and provision, on the one hand, and curriculum and pedagogy, on the other. In addition, the authors claim that giving semiotics a foundational role in educational thinking provides a basis for the broader development of liberal political thought within a postmodern cultural context. [source] Electoral promises and minority governments: An empirical studyEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2008JOAQUÍN ARTÉS Content analysis of electoral pledges of Spanish parties is utilised to study the gains that a relatively small party obtains when it helps to sustain the governing party in office without entering a coalition government. According to the authors' results, cooperating in parliament to maintain the minority government in office can be a rational choice for a party because it allows it to obtain significant gains in terms of programme fulfillment. [source] Poliheuristic Theory, Bargaining, and Crisis Decision MakingFOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS, Issue 4 2007Min Ye In the past decade, the application of the Poliheuristic (PH) theory to foreign policy decisions of various types, by numerous leaders, and in association with different research methods, has demonstrated its theoretical merit in integrating the divided rational choice and psychological/cognitive approaches. This article argues for a complementary relationship between PH and formal theory. On the one hand, PH can provide a framework in which abstract formal models can be connected with specific domestic as well as international circumstances. On the other hand, formal theory sharpens the rational analysis used in the second conceptual stage of PH. In this study, I formulate a revised Rubinstein bargaining model with war as an outside option and apply it to Chinese crisis decision making during the Second and Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis. In sum, this study makes three contributions to the literature on international crises and foreign policy analysis. First, it gives formal explanations on how PH can contribute to the game-theoretic approach in foreign policy analysis. Second, it presents what Bueno de Mesquita and Lalman (1992) called a "domestic politics version" of the canonical Rubinstein bargaining game, connecting international interactions with individual participants' domestic politics. Finally, it provides a way to test abstract game-theoretic models in particular domestic and international contexts of foreign policy making. [source] The angiogenic makeup of human hepatocellular carcinoma does not favor vascular endothelial growth factor/angiopoietin-driven sprouting neovascularization,,HEPATOLOGY, Issue 5 2008Wenjiao Zeng Quantitative data on the expression of multiple factors that control angiogenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are limited. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying angiogenesis in HCC will improve the rational choice of anti-angiogenic treatment. We quantified gene and protein expression of members of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and angiopoietin systems and studied localization of VEGF, its receptors VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2, Angiopoietin (Ang)-1 and Ang-2, and their receptor, in HCC in noncirrhotic and cirrhotic livers. We employed real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blot, and immunohistology, and compared the outcome with highly angiogenic human renal cell carcinoma (RCC). HCC in noncirrhotic and cirrhotic livers expressed VEGF and its receptors to a similar extent as normal liver, although in cirrhotic background, VEGFR-2 levels in both tumor and adjacent tissue were decreased. Ang-1 expression was slightly increased compared with normal liver, whereas Tie-2 was strongly down-regulated in the tumor vasculature. Ang-2 messenger RNA (mRNA) levels were also low in HCCs of both noncirrhotic and cirrhotic livers, implying that VEGF-driven angiogenic sprouting accompanied by angiopoietin-driven vascular destabilization is not pronounced. In RCC, VEGF-A levels were one order of magnitude higher. At the same time, endothelially expressed Ang-2 was over 30-fold increased compared with expression in normal kidney, whereas Ang-1 expression was decreased. Conclusion: In hepatocellular carcinoma, tumor vascularization is not per se VEGF/angiopoietin driven. However, increased CD31 expression and morphological changes representative of sinusoidal capillarization in tumor vasculature indicate that vascular remodeling is taking place. This portends that therapeutic intervention of HCC at the level of the vasculature is optional, and that further studies into the molecular control thereof are warranted. (HEPATOLOGY 2008.) [source] Game Theory: Pitfalls and Opportunities in Applying It to International RelationsINTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 3 2000Steven J. Brams Four problems plague game-theoretic models in international relations (IR): (1) misspecifying the rules, (2) confusing goals and rational choice, (3) arbitrarily reducing the multiplicity of equilibria, and (4) forsaking backward induction. An alternative approach, theory of moves (TOM), is discussed and applied to Prisoners' Dilemma and then, more prescriptively, to the Iran hostage crisis of 1979,80. TOM incorporates into the framework of game theory an initial state in a payoff matrix, the moves and countermoves required to reach a "nonmyopic equilibrium," and threat, moving, and order power that reflect asymmetries in the capabilities of the players. It also allows for incomplete information, which in the Iran hostage crisis led to misperceptions and flawed play. Two general lessons come out of the U.S. foreign-policy failure in the Iran hostage crisis: (1) know the game you are playing, and (2) make threats only if they are likely to be credible. In specific games, TOM provides detailed prescriptions for optimal play, depending on where play starts and the powers of the players, that could aid foreign-policy makers, especially in crises. [source] The Elements of Rationality and Chance in the Choice of Human ActionJOURNAL FOR THE THEORY OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, Issue 4 2004ERNEST KRAUSZ The focus in this paper is on deliberate human action. The central questions addressed are: whether purely rational choice is possible; whether choices may be induced by chance alone; or whether there is always a mixture of rationality and chance, as well as other factors such as habit, emotion, imitation and irrationality. The approach is a factualist one, upholding the view that, although human action can be explained by its antecedents, this is not incompatible with the notion of "free choice". It is the actual choosing process that determines the final choice of action. Whatever the sources of the elements involved in the choosing process, the choice of action is a specific outcome created by the acting agent. It is in this choosing process and decision making that both rationality and chance enter. The conclusion is that rationality is the element which links intentionality with goal seeking and attainment, but that the actual choice is determined by a complex interactive process in which both logic and chance play a part. [source] HUMAN CAPITAL MEASUREMENT: A SURVEYJOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 2 2010Giuseppe Folloni Abstract After a short history of the concept of human capital (henceforth HC) in economic thought (Section 1), this study presents the two main methods for estimating the value of the stock of HC , the retrospective and prospective one , with a review of the models proposed (Section 2). These methods are linked both to the theory of HC investment as a rational choice (Section 3), the literature analysing the contribution of HC investment to economic growth and the HC estimating method through educational attainment (Section 4). The more recent literature on HC as a latent variable is also assessed (Section 5) and a new method of estimation where HC is seen both as an unknown function of formative indicators and as a ,latent effect' underlying earned income is proposed (Section 6). Section 7 concludes. [source] Rational Choice and Developmental Influences on Recidivism Among Adolescent Felony OffendersJOURNAL OF EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 4 2007Jeffrey Fagan Recent case law and social science both have claimed that the developmental limitations of adolescents affect their capacity for control and decision making with respect to crime, diminishing their culpability and reducing their exposure to punishment. Social science has focused on two concurrent adolescent developmental influences: the internalization of legal rules and norms that regulate social and antisocial behaviors, and the development of rationality to frame behavioral choices and decisions. The interaction of these two developmental processes, and the identification of one domain of socialization and development as the primary source of motivation or restraint in adolescence, is the focus of this article. Accordingly, we combine rational choice and legal socialization frameworks into an integrated, developmental model of criminality. We test this framework in a large sample of adolescent felony offenders who have been interviewed at six-month intervals for two years. Using hierarchical and growth curve models, we show that both legal socialization and rational choice factors influence patterns of criminal offending over time. When punishment risks and costs are salient, crime rates are lower over time. We show that procedural justice is a significant antecedent of legal socialization, but not of rational choice. We also show that both mental health and developmental maturity moderate the effects of perceived crime risks and costs on criminal offending. [source] Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders: current status & future relevance,JOURNAL OF ORAL REHABILITATION, Issue 10 2010S. F. DWORKIN Summary, The Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD), published in 1992, was based on international expert recommendations and available empirical data. The major rationale was to offer a putative diagnostic and classification system whose reliability, validity and clinical usefulness for TMD diagnosis and classification could be scientifically evaluated and then revised using an evidence-based model for successive iterations. The present journal issue attests to the accomplishment of that major objective: the RDC/TMD has been translated into 18 languages and used very extensively in international research. One important component of that research has been to yield reliable and valid data resulting in an evidence-based revision of the RDC/TMD now available for continuing research and clinical application. The present article offers recommendations and speculations regarding how the RDC/TMD may continue to serve the function of guiding future research and, most importantly, serve as an evidence-based diagnostic and classification system to aid in the rational choice of clinical care for TMD sufferers around the world. [source] Judicial Performance and the Rule of Law in the Mexican StatesLATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2006Caroline C. Beer ABSTRACT What determines how judicial institutions perform? Prominent theoretical approaches, such as international political economy, institutional rational choice, social capital, and structural theories, suggest that international economic actors, political competition, political participation, and poverty may all be important forces driving institutional behavior. This study analyzes these various theoretical approaches and uses qualitative and statistical analysis to compare judicial performance in the Mexican states. It provides evidence to support the institutional rational choice hypothesis that political competition generates judicial independence. Poverty, political participation, and an export-oriented economy seem to influence judicial access and effectiveness. [source] Failure to Update: An Institutional Perspective on Noncompliance With the Family and Medical Leave ActLAW & SOCIETY REVIEW, Issue 1 2010Erin L. Kelly At least one-quarter of covered workplaces violated the parental leave requirements of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) when surveyed in 1997. What explains this noncompliance? Using a survey of 389 U.S. workplaces and qualitative interviews with managers in 40 organizations, I demonstrate that noncompliance comes in distinct forms. Some forms of noncompliance result from a failure to update institutionalized,and gendered,policies, practices, and norms. This form of noncompliance (indicated by illegally short leaves) is better explained by the institutional perspective, while outright noncompliance (as evidenced by a lack of leaves) is best explained by rational choice and deviant culture theories. [source] Prevention of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug gastrointestinal complications , review and recommendations based on risk assessmentALIMENTARY PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 10 2004F. K. L. Chan Summary The incidence of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-related ulcer complications remains high despite the availability of potent anti-ulcer drugs and selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-related ulcer complications can be minimized by prospective assessment of patients' baseline risk, rational choice and use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and selective use of co-therapy strategies with gastroprotectives. Current recommendations regarding strategies using anti-ulcer drugs and cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors for prevention of clinical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug upper gastrointestinal events are largely derived from studies using surrogates such as endoscopic ulcers, erosions, and symptoms in low- to average-risk patients. Conclusions based on surrogate and potentially manipulatable end-points are increasingly suspect with regard to applicability to clinical situations. This article reviews the risks associated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs including aspirin and includes the effect of the patients' baseline risk, and the confounding effects of Helicobacter pylori infection. In addition, uncertainties regarding the clinical efficacy of anti-ulcer drugs and cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors against non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-related ulcer complications are put into perspective. We propose management strategies based on the risk category: low risk (absence of risk factors) (least ulcerogenic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug at lowest effective dose), moderate risk (one to two risk factors) (as above, plus an antisecretory agent or misoprostol or a cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitor), high risk (multiple risk factors or patients using concomitant low-dose aspirin, steroids, or anticoagulants) (cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitor alone with steroids, plus misoprostol with warfarin, or plus a proton pump inhibitors or misoprostol with aspirin), and very high risk (history of ulcer complications) (avoid all non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, if possible or a cyclo-oxygenase-2 plus a proton pump inhibitors and/or misoprostol). The presence of H. pylori infection increases the risk of upper gastrointestinal complications in non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug users by two- to fourfold suggesting that all patients requiring regular non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug therapy be tested for H. pylori. [source] FEEDING PREFERENCES OF THE MONKEY MIA DOLPHINS: RESULTS FROM A SIMULTANEOUS CHOICE PROTOCOLMARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2003Lawrence M. Dill Abstract The semiwild beach-feeding bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) of Monkey Mia, Western Australia, provide an unparalleled opportunity to examine prey preference of this species. In a series of binary-choice feeding experiments, we took advantage of the animals' willingness to be fed by hand, to explore their preferences for fish species, size, and state (freshly caught or previously frozen). At the end of each beach visit, each dolphin was provided with a pair of fish but allowed to eat only the first one chosen. The dolphins appeared indifferent among the three species of fish offered to them (yellowtail trumpeter, Amniataba caudovittatus; striped trumpeter, Pelates sexlineatus; and western butterfish, Pentapodus vitta), which were of similar body form and matched for mass. Overall, the dolphins showed a slight preference for the larger of two yellowtail trumpeter offered, suggesting the capability for rational choice when there was a basis for it (most likely energy in this case), although there was considerable individual variation. The dolphins did not distinguish between freshly caught and previously frozen yellowtail. The methodology we describe can be used to generate data of potential value for understanding food and habitat selection of wild dolphins, and for modifying management practices for semiwild dolphins at Monkey Mia and elsewhere. [source] Neuronal control and monitoring of initiation of movementsMUSCLE AND NERVE, Issue 3 2002Veit Stuphorn PhD Abstract The prerequisite for behavioral self-control is the ability to initiate actions and to cancel planned actions. A rational choice about which action to initiate or to withhold must be informed by the consequences of prior actions. The neuronal correlates of these processes have been studied with the countermanding paradigm. This task requires subjects to withhold planned movements in response to an imperative stop signal, which they can do with varying success. By recording the activity of single neurons in different parts of the frontal cortex of macaque monkeys performing this task, signals that are sufficient for controlling the initiation and inhibition of movements and other signals that evaluate the consequences of these movements have been identified. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Muscle Nerve 26: 326,339, 2002 [source] Is There Life After Policy Streams, Advocacy Coalitions, and Punctuations: Using Evolutionary Theory to Explain Policy Change?POLICY STUDIES JOURNAL, Issue 4 2003Peter John This article reviews the current state of public policy theory to find out if researchers are ready to readdress the research agenda set by the classic works of Baumgartner and Jones (1993), Kingdon (1984) and Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith (1993). After reviewing the influences of institutional, rational choice, network, socio-economic and ideational approaches, the article pays tribute to the policy streams, punctuated equilibrium and policy advocacy coalition frameworks whilst also suggesting that future theory and research could identify more precisely the causal mechanisms driving policy change. The article argues that evolutionary theory may usefully uncover the micro-level processes at work, particularly as some the three frameworks refer to dymamic models and methods. After reviewing some evolutionary game theory and the study of memes, the article suggests that the benefits of evolutionary theory in extending policy theories need to be balanced by its limitations. [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] The Limits of Rational Choice: New Institutionalism in the Test Bed of Central Banking Politics in AustraliaPOLITICAL STUDIES, Issue 3 2002Stephen Bell This paper tests the explanatory capacities of different versions of new institutionalism by examining the Australian case of a general transition in central banking practice and monetary politics: namely, the increased emphasis on low inflation and central bank independence. Standard versions of rational choice institutionalism largely dominate the literature on the politics of central banking, but this approach (here termed RC1) fails to account for Australian empirics. RC1 has a tendency to establish actor preferences exogenously to the analysis; actors'motives are also assumed a priori; actor's preferences are depicted in relatively static, ahistorical terms. And there is the tendency, even a methodological requirement, to assume relatively simple motives and preference sets among actors, in part because of the game theoretic nature of RC1 reasoning. It is possible to build a more accurate rational choice model by re-specifying and essentially updating the context, incentives and choice sets that have driven rational choice in this case. Enter RC2. However, this move subtly introduces methodological shifts and new theoretical challenges. By contrast, historical institutionalism uses an inductive methodology. Compared with deduction, it is arguably better able to deal with complexity and nuance. It also utilises a dynamic, historical approach, and specifies (dynamically) endogenous preference formation by interpretive actors. Historical institutionalism is also able to more easily incorporate a wider set of key explanatory variables and incorporate wider social aggregates. Hence, it is argued that historical institutionalism is the preferred explanatory theory and methodology in this case. [source] Theory, Stylized Heuristic or Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2004The Status of Rational Choice Theory in Public Administration Rational choice is intimately associated with positivism and naturalism, its appeal to scholars of public administration lying in its ability to offer a predictive science of politics that is parsimonious in its analytical assumptions, rigorous in its deductive reasoning and overarching in its apparent applicability. In this paper I re-examine the ontology and epistemology which underpins this distinctive approach to public administration, challenging the necessity of the generally unquestioned association between rational choice and both positivism and naturalism. Rational choice, I contend, can only defend its claim to offer a predictive science of politics on the basis of an ingenious, paradoxical, and seldom acknowledged structuralism and a series of analytical assumptions incapable of capturing the complexity and contingency of political systems. I argue that analytical parsimony, though itself a condition of naturalism, is in fact incompatible with the deduction of genuinely explanatory/causal inferences. This suggests that the status of rational choice as an explanatory/predictive theory needs to be reassessed. Yet this is no reason to reject rational choice out of hand. For, deployed not as a theory in its own right, but as a heuristic analytical strategy for exploring hypothetical scenarios, it is a potent and powerful resource in post-positivist public administration. [source] Anaesthesia in haemodynamically compromised emergency patients: does ketamine represent the best choice of induction agent?ANAESTHESIA, Issue 5 2009C. Morris Summary In rapid sequence induction of anaesthesia in the emergency setting in shocked or hypotensive patients (e.g. ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, polytrauma or septic shock), prior resuscitation is often suboptimal and comorbidities (particularly cardiovascular) may be extensive. The induction agents with the most favourable pharmacological properties conferring haemodynamic stability appear to be ketamine and etomidate. However, etomidate has been withdrawn from use in some countries and impairs steroidogenesis. Ketamine has been traditionally contra-indicated in the presence of brain injury, but we argue in this review that any adverse effects of the drug on intracranial pressure or cerebral blood flow are in fact attenuated or reversed by controlled ventilation, subsequent anaesthesia and the greater general haemodynamic stability conferred by the drug. Ketamine represents a very rational choice for rapid sequence induction in haemodynamically compromised patients. [source] Exploring the Sources of Institutional Trust in China: Culture, Mobilization, or Performance?ASIAN POLITICS AND POLICY, Issue 3 2010Qing Yang While democratic countries have been concerned about a "trust crisis" since the 1960s, China surprisingly displays a very high level of public trust in institutions. Why do people trust institutions and to what extent does institutional trust in China differ from that in democracies? Using the 2004 China Values and Ethics Survey, this article explores three different dimensions of institutional trust in China: trust in administrative institutions, trust in legal institutions, and trust in societal institutions. The analysis shows that institutional trust is more than a product of traditional values in China. Rather, it is more of an individual rational choice based heavily on the evaluations of the institutional performance, and it is also a result of government-controlled politicization. Trust in administrative institutions, in particular, mainly comes from satisfactory institutional performance. Institutional trust has a great impact on the development of democracy and legal participation in China. [source] A Preface to the Economic Analysis of Disease TransmissionAUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 1 2000Mark Gersovitz Infectious diseases are transmitted from person to person or from vectors such as mosquitos to people. The uninfected take precautions against these diseases and the infected try to mitigate their symptoms and to get cured. In doing so, people may weigh the costs of illness, prevention and therapy. They may also (altruistically) weigh the costs of people whom their own behavior puts at risk, for instance their sexual partners, or they may act entirely selfishly. Some of these behaviours may therefore lead to externalities and a corresponding rationale for government interventions. A recent literature uses economics to investigate the implications of rational choice by individuals about their response to infectious diseases. It analyzes decisions about prevention, vaccination, testing, therapies and government intervention. This paper reviews this literature with an emphasis on examples from the HIV/AIDS epidemic. [source] A short low-dose imatinib trial allows rapid identification of responsive patients in hypereosinophilic syndromesBRITISH JOURNAL OF HAEMATOLOGY, Issue 5 2009Tamara Intermesoli Summary Although imatinib may be effective in hypereosinophilic syndromes, the exact response kinetics are not known. Imatinib was administered at 100,400 mg/d each week in a 12-week response-oriented schedule, targeting a complete clinical and haematological remission (CR). CR was achieved in 11/23 patients (6/6 with FIP1L1 - PDGRFA rearrangement and 5/17 without, P = 0·006), most after 2 weeks of 100 mg/d imatinib. The maximum imatinib dose had no effect in early unresponsive patients. Low-dose, short-course imatinib may represent a rational choice for identifying responsive cases, both within and outside the pre-defined FIP1L1 rearrangement subset. [source] Squamous cell carcinoma in situ of the skin: History, presentation, biology and treatmentAUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2004John P Arlette SUMMARY Squamous cell carcinoma in situ (SCCIS) of the skin is a problem commonly dealt with by dermatologists. The classic presentation, originally described by Bowen, is easily recognized, but presentation on some anatomical surfaces may be associated with less than typical features. Major aetiological factors for this disease are UV light, human papillomavirus infection and immunosuppression. The natural course of SCCIS is usually prolonged, with treatment being appropriate, but not urgent. The choice of therapy requires consideration of the location of the lesion, and a desire for a high cure rate without causing loss of form, function or cosmesis. The immunomodulatory agent imiquimod has offered a significant advance for the topical treatment of SCCIS. Our improved understanding of the underlying biology of SCCIS permits us to make rational choices of treatment. In the future we may be able to determine which of these lesions may progress to invasive disease, and help us select the most effective therapy. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||