Collaborative Research on Expensive Choices: The Effect of Decision Making Costs on Political Outcomes

这个项目调查决策成本影响政治选择的方式。在所有的政治环境中，做出决定都是要付出代价的。例如，在立法机构中，如国会，成员不会在没有成本的情况下决定政策。建议的政策需要委员会审议，这反过来又使用委员会的工作人员资源和委员会成员的时间。提交讨论的政策需要辩论，这又占用了审议其他提案的时间。协调两院之间的立法也消耗工作人员资源和会议委员会成员的时间。简而言之，国会通过的所有立法都伴随着各种决策成本。在本研究中，研究者采用形式化分析模型来研究决策成本对政治决策的影响。它们建立在政治科学和经济学的重要文献基础上，这些文献与理解政治选择有关。调查人员认为，决策成本是理解政治选择的一个重要（但被忽视的）难题。重点是三种一般类型的成本：议程获取成本（与提议、修改或表决议程有关的成本）；信息成本（在选择过程中收集或产生关于备选方案的信息的相关成本）；时间成本（与做出政治选择所花费的时间有关的成本）。这个项目的一半致力于发展理论假设，然后可以在经验背景下进行测试。本研究的后半部分侧重于实证研究。为了系统地检验理论假设，研究者采用实验室实验方法。在这些实验中，一小群人组成一个委员会做出选择。像设置。这些实验的参与者坐在连接在局域网中的微型计算机终端前。参与者之间的所有交互都是在计算机终端上进行的，因此对参与者的行为提供了强有力的控制。参与者可以在这些提案中建立一个议程。实验中的动机是通过向个人的选择支付现金来提供的。实验旨在测试理论模型产生的决策成本的各种属性。这些模型反过来为实验结果提供了强有力的预测。这项研究为政治决策的一个被忽视的领域提供了重要的见解。本研究不是简单地依赖于政治背景下行为的理论模型，而是对这些模型进行了实证检验。在这项研究完成后，我们可以期待丰富的理论模型，这些模型已经在实验环境中得到了验证。

This project investigates the way that costs to decision making affect political choices. In all political settings there are costs to making a decision. For example, in a legislative setting, such as Congress, members do not settle on policies in the absence of costs. Proposed policies require committee consideration, which in turn use committee staff resources and committee members' time. Policies coming to the floor require debate, which in turn takes up time from considering other proposals. Reconciling legislation between the two Chambers also consumes staff resources and conference committee members' time. In short, all legislation passing through Congress carries with it a variety of costs to decision making. In this investigation the researchers employ formal analytical models in order to investigate the effect of decision costs on political decision making. They build on an important literature in political science and economics that is concerned with understanding political choices. The investigators regard costs to decision making as an important (and ignored) piece of the puzzle for understanding political choices. The focus is on three general types of costs: agenda access costs (costs associated with proposing, amending or voting on an agenda); information costs (costs associated with gathering or generating information about alternatives in the choice process); and time costs (costs associated with the amount of time given over to making political choices. Half of this project is devoted to developing theoretical hypotheses which can then be tested in an empirical context. The second half of this research is focused on empirical research. In order to systematically test the theoretical hypotheses, the investigators utilize laboratory experimental methods. These experiments involve small groups of individuals making choices in a committee.like setting. Participants in these experiments are seated at microcomputer terminals which are linked together in a Local Area Network. All interaction between participants takes place over the computer terminals, thus providing strong controls on participant behavior. Participants are allowed to build an agenda across these proposals. Motivation in the experiment is provided by paying individuals in cash for their choice. The experiments are designed to test various attributes of decision costs that are generated from the theoretical models. These models in turn provide strong predictions for the experimental results This research provides important insights into a neglected area of political decision making. Rather than relying simply on theoretical models of behavior in a political context, this research also provides empirical test of the models. At the completion of this research we can expect rich theoretical models which have been verified in an experimental setting.