Avoiding Losses/Taking Risks: Prospect Theory and International Conflict - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0472082760 ISBN 13: 9780472082766

Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 1995

Synopsis

This volume is a comprehensive examination of the benefits and potential pitfalls of employing prospect theory---a leading alternative to expected utility as a theory of decision under risk---to understand and explain political behavior. The collection brings together both theoretical and empirical studies, thus grounding the conclusions about prospect theory's potential for enriching political analyses in an assessment of its performance in explaining actual cases. The theoretical chapters provide an overview of the main hypotheses of prospect theory: people frame risk-taking decisions around a reference point, they tend to accept greater risk to prevent losses than to make gains, and they often perceive the devastation of a loss as greater than the benefit of a gain. The three case studies---Roosevelt's decision-making during the Munich crisis of 1938, Carter's April 1980 decision to rescue the American hostages in Iran, and Soviet behavior toward Syria in 1966-67---generally support these hypotheses. Nevertheless, the authors are frank about potentially difficult conceptual and methodological problems, making explicit reference to alternative explanations, such as the rational actor model, which posits the maximization of expected value. Contributors to the volume include Jack Levy, Robert Jervis, Barbara Farnham, Rose McDermott, Audrey McInerney, and Eldar Shafir.

About this title

About the Author

Barbara Farnham is a visiting scholar at the Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472082760
• ISBN 13: 9780472082766
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 172
• Editor: Farnham Barbara