American Politics & Government Midterm Study Guide
Short Answer - given 7-8 choose 5
ID’s - given 7-8 and choose 5
Essay - given 2 choose 1
Introduction
• Collective action problem: situation where everyone would be better off if they cooperated, however every individual has an incentive not to cooperate
• Collective dilemma: A situation in which there is a conflict between group goals and individual goals or self interest
• Conformity costs: The cost to the participants to do something they prefer not to. Citizens naturally prefer lower conformity costs.
• Coordination problem: A situation in which two or more people are all better off if they coordinate on a common action but there is more than one course of action to take
• Delegation: principal agent problem
• Direct democracy: a form of democracy in which people decide (e.g. vote on, form consensus on, etc.) policy initiatives directly, as opposed to a representative democracy in which people vote for representatives who then decide policy initiatives
• Free riding: benefiting from a public good while avoiding the costs of contributing to it.
• Principal agent problem: an instance in which one actor, a principal, contracts another actor, a agent, to act on the principals behalf, but due to difference in preferences the agent can act in ways that the principal cannot observe but would not agree with
• Prisoner’s dilemma: an interaction between two strategic actors in which neither actor has an incentive to cooperate even though both would be better off if they didn’t
• Public goods: a benefit provided to a group of people such that each member can enjoy it without necessarily having to pay for it
• Republic: a political system in which public officials are chosen to represent the people in an assembly that makes decision
• Tragedy of the commons: individuals, acting independently and rationally according to each one's self-interest, behave contrary to the whole group's long-term best interests by depleting
some
ID’s - given 7-8 and choose 5
Essay - given 2 choose 1
Introduction
• Collective action problem: situation where everyone would be better off if they cooperated, however every individual has an incentive not to cooperate
• Collective dilemma: A situation in which there is a conflict between group goals and individual goals or self interest
• Conformity costs: The cost to the participants to do something they prefer not to. Citizens naturally prefer lower conformity costs.
• Coordination problem: A situation in which two or more people are all better off if they coordinate on a common action but there is more than one course of action to take
• Delegation: principal agent problem
• Direct democracy: a form of democracy in which people decide (e.g. vote on, form consensus on, etc.) policy initiatives directly, as opposed to a representative democracy in which people vote for representatives who then decide policy initiatives
• Free riding: benefiting from a public good while avoiding the costs of contributing to it.
• Principal agent problem: an instance in which one actor, a principal, contracts another actor, a agent, to act on the principals behalf, but due to difference in preferences the agent can act in ways that the principal cannot observe but would not agree with
• Prisoner’s dilemma: an interaction between two strategic actors in which neither actor has an incentive to cooperate even though both would be better off if they didn’t
• Public goods: a benefit provided to a group of people such that each member can enjoy it without necessarily having to pay for it
• Republic: a political system in which public officials are chosen to represent the people in an assembly that makes decision
• Tragedy of the commons: individuals, acting independently and rationally according to each one's self-interest, behave contrary to the whole group's long-term best interests by depleting
some