Media versus Special Interests

Special Interests and the Media: Theory and an Application to Climate Change.

A journalist reports to a voter on an unknown, policy-relevant state. Competing special interests can make claims that contradict the facts but seem credible to the voter. A reputational incentive to avoid taking sides leads the journalist to report special interests' claims to the voter. In equilibrium, the voter can remain uninformed even when the journalist is perfectly informed. Communicati...

Patients' wants versus patients' interests.

Should we treat other people according to what they want (their own values), or according to what we take their best interests to be? If they have given us no mandate to decide for them, their values should prevail. This applies not only to allowing but also to assisting them to get what they want. Taking this seriously in medical practice involves a lot of communication between doctor and pati...

Update on special interests and focused practices.

How Special Interests Shape Policy A Survey

This paper surveys recent approaches towards lobbying if interest groups influence the decision of an incumbent government. It describes the two main channels of influence which mainly exist in parallel, namely contribution payments and the transmission of information through lobbying. Recent extensions to the two basic lobbying models are discussed in great detail. Thereafter follows a short o...

Freshmen versus interns' specialty interests.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine career preferences of medical students at the time of entering medical school compared with interns who were graduating; and to determine what factors influence the choice of a special discipline as a career. METHODS A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey study involving freshmen and interns at Tehran University of Medical Sciences was...