PROSPECT THEORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

Jack S. Levy Applications of Prospect Theory to Political Science

Prospect theory is an alternative theory of choice under conditions of risk, and deviates from expected utility theory by positing that people evaluate choices with respect to gains and losses from a reference point. They tend to overweight losses with respect to comparable gains and engage in risk-averse behavior with respect to gains and risk-acceptant behavior with respect to losses. They al...

Political Theory, Political Science, And The End Of Civic Engagement

Prospect Theory

Prospect theory is a descriptive theory of how individuals choose among risky alternatives. The theory challenged the conventional wisdom that economic decision makers are rational expected utility maximizers. We present a number of empirical demonstrations that are inconsistent with the classical theory, expected utility, but can be explained by prospect theory. We then discuss the prospect th...

Prospect Theory

Prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979) predictions were examined in light of ethnocentrism and intergroup conflict. An experiment conducted at the outset of the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the U.S., U. K. and their allies explored American and British participants’ preferences for certain versus uncertain gains and losses concerning Iraqi, American, and British lives. In four conditions, parti...

The Republic of Science: Its Political and Economic Theory

My title is intended to suggest that the community of scientists is organized in a way which resembles certain features of a body politic and works according to economic principles similar to those by which the production of material goods is regulated. Much of what I will have to say will be common knowledge among scientists, but I believe that it will recast the subject from a novel point of ...