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The theory of rational choice has become the predominant theory of human behavior in many of the social sciences. The theory holds, among other things, that individuals are rational utility-maximizers and that organizations are rational profit-maximizers. Recent developments in cognitive psychology and in economics suggest that human beings have significant cognitive imperfections that make the routine applicability of the theory of rational choice questionable. The article reviews these developments and, by addressing examples from the field of law and economics, shows how an awareness of cognitive imperfections can help to devise better public policy.

Due to its utility in producing consensus, corporatist concertation has been suggested by many experts as an ideal vehicle for implementing industrial policies. However, the validity of corporatism as a mode of policy mediation rests on the ability of interest group representatives to win benefits for all their members, while industrial policy decisions are selective & often discriminating. Here, it is argued that there is not an elective affinity between industrial policy & corporatist concertation, which is supported by an analysis of the postwar economies of Japan, Sweden, & West Germany. 176 References. Adapted from the source document.

The utility of a non-governmental approach to diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific is illustrated in this paper. Two case studies of consensus building within the Pacific Economic Co-operation Conference (PECC) in advance of its fifth general meeting in Vancouver in 1986 are examined: the effort to secure the participation of the PRC and the debate over observer status for the USSR. The research suggests that the non-governmental coup embodied by the Chinese, Taiwanese and Soviet presence at PECC V. was dependent upon governmental recognition of and attempts to preserve this organization's diplomatic value. (DÜI-Sen)

The Articulated Thoughts during Simulated Situations (ATSS) para digm for cognitive assessment may be useful for identifying gender schematic information processing. In a study of smoking relapse, several ex-smokers articulated thoughts indicating that they mistook the gender of audiotaped
actors whose roles violated sex role stereotypes. The same speakers were never misidentified when portraying more traditional roles. Discussion focused on (a) the possible utility of this finding for research on Gender Schema Theory, and (b) the value of open-ended cognitive assessment methods
such as ATSS for enhancing the likelihood of serendipitous findings.

Abstract
Starting point is the thesis that economics - as well as other social sciences - is imperialistic with regard to the area of its subject, but not with regard to its approach. Underlying economics is the following schema: Try to explain under the presumption that actors maximize their expected utility under constraints. Conditions and possibilities of interdisciplinary research within all sciences being considered imperialistic are discussed according to this schema. Theoretical guide-lines are provided by the systematic connection of 'problem' and 'schema', as well as the concept of 'fruitfulness' as primary criterion of judgement.

User dissatisfaction with the performance of internal systems
design departments is widespread. It is demonstrated here that viewing
such a department as a service operations system, operating within a
particular market, throws light upon the causes of dissatisfaction and
indicates possible remedies. The lessons are likely to be equally
applicable to other internal service functions. An internal consistency
model of service operations is introduced, and its value as a general
diagnostic aid in the service operations field is demonstrated. The
information in this study was gathered within one region of a public
utility in the United Kingdom.

Professor Katznelson's essay deserves a lengthy reply, but space limitations require me to keep my response brief. I strongly disagree with the way that he has characterized the thrust of my essay, the point of my other work, and the implications of recent work by other urban historians. But rather than hash over these misinterpretations, I will focus instead on the issue between us that I think has the most relevance for future work on the role of urban politics in American political development: the utility of a focus on the urban political machine.

THE ARTICLE EXAMINES CANADA WITHIN A COMPARATIVE FRAMEWORK AND ASSESS THE "FEDERATIONS AS WEAK STATES" HYPOTHESIS AS WELL AS THE UTILITY OF THE "STRONG-STATE/WEAK-STATE" MODEL. ALTHOUGH SOME ASPECTS OF THE CANADIAN FEDERAL SYSTEM INHIBIT THE ADOPTION OF EFFECTIVE ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT POLICIES, THESE FEATURES ARE NOT NECESSARILY FOUND IN OTHER FEDERAL ARRANGEMENTS. COMPARISONS WITH SWITZERLAND, AUSTRIA, AND WEST GERMANY SUGGEST THAT, UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, FEDERAL POWER SHARING MAY BE CONDUCIVE TO BRINGING ABOUT BROAD AGREEMENT ON BOTH GOALS AND POLICIES AMONG NATIONAL, REGIONAL, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND MAJOR ECONOMIC ACTORS.

In Singapore, extensive government intervention in the housing market has resulted in much deviation from assumptions made in the simple neoclassical urban models. The monocentric model of urban structure is extended to incorporate a subsidized public housing market in which the government-determined price gradient is flatter than the private housing price gradients. The propositionthat the utility of public housing households varies inversely with residential location distance from the CBD is empirically tested by estimating net returns to public housing using resale market data. It was found that net returns decreased with distance from the CBD.

This article reviews the historical linkages between the evolution of the survey research method and applied social research, arguing that most or all of the elements of the modern survey were devoloped in response to immediate, practical (as opposed to academic or disciplinary) concerns. In contrast, the utility of survey data and methods in advancing the more basic social science disciplines was a rather late recognition. Although surveys similar to those of the modern day were being conducted in the nineteenth century, academic scholars referred to the method as 'a new research technigue' as late as 1961.

The author posits a model that attempts to explicate in part the relation between the modes of economic and cultural production. The focus in on the linkage between the process of producing and reproducing knowledge units and the structure that is the distribution of power in society. At the center of this model is the process labeled "boundary work." Boundary work is defined as those acts and structures that create, maintain, and break down the boundaries between knowledge units. The utility of the model is illustrated with references to the development of social anthropology during the interwar years.

AbstractA flexibility system for beef, pork, and chicken is estimated in accordance with a theoretical, income‐constrained utility maximization model of consumer behavior subject to fixed quantities. The cumulative sum of squares technique is generalized for equation systems and used to detect structural change in retail meat demands. The findings suggest, (1) red meat demands have become more variable, and (2) cross‐price flexibilities for beef, pork and chicken have increased in absolute value which supports the hypothesis that chicken has become a closer substitute for beef and pork in the post‐1973 period.

Although the concept of the state is pervaded with ambiguity and thus of questionable utility, the analysis proceeds from the premise that it must be employed inasmuch as so many analysts treat it as useful. At the same time, it is argued that the concept is used in diverse and contradictory ways, including tendencies to treat the state both as increasingly omnicompetent and increasingly impotent as an instrument for meeting and resolving collective needs. The analysis also concludes that states are quite resilient and capable of adapting to change under most circumstances.

An exploration of the utility of psychological content analysis in studying judicial behavior. US Supreme Court justices' testimony at their confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Commitee was scored for power, achievement, & affiliation imagery using content analysis techniques developed by D. Winter (Revised Manual for Scoring Motive Imagery in Running Text, unpublished manuscript, Wesleyan U, 1982). Results suggest that motivational content analysis may provide a more direct means of assessing the relationship between judges' psychological disposition & their decision-making behavior. Combinations of motive imagery variables & social background variables explained between 64% & 85% of the variation in writing opinions & in casting concurring & dissenting votes among the justices. 2 Tables, 1 Appendix, 51 References. HA