European University Institute Library

Strategies of commitment and other essays, Thomas C. Schelling

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Strategies of commitment and other essays

bibliography

61513189

Thomas C. Schelling

Schelling--a 2005 Nobel Prize winner-- has been one of the four or five most important social scientists of the past fifty years, and this collection shows why. These essays convey his unique perspective on individuals and society. This perspective has several characteristics: it is strategic in that it assumes that an important part of people's behavior is motivated by the thought of influencing other people's expectations; it views the mind as being separable into two or more parts (rational/irrational; present-minded/future-minded); it is motivated by policy concerns--smoking and other addictions, global warming, segregation, nuclear war; and while it accepts many of the basic assumptions of economics--that people are forward-looking, rational decision makers, that resources are scarce, and that incentives are important--it is open to modifying them when appropriate, and open to the findings and insights of other social science disciplines.--From publisher description

Strategies of commitment -- Climate and society. What makes greenhouse sense? ; The economic diplomacy of geoengineering ; Intergenerational and international discounting -- Commitment as self-command. Self-command in practice, in policy, and in a theory of rational choice ; Coping rationally with lapses from rationality ; Against backsliding -- Addictive drugs : the cigarette experience ; Life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness ; Should numbers determine whom to save? -- Economics and social policy. What do economists know? ; Why does economics only help with easy problems? ; Prices as regulatory instruments -- Weapons and warfare. Meteors, mischief, and war ; Research by accident ; Vietnam : reflections and lessons -- Social dynamics. Social mechanisms and social dynamics ; Dynamic models of segregation -- Decisions of the highest order. The legacy of Hiroshima