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Looking for Audience Costs

Bibliographic Data

ID6285506
AuthorsKenneth A Schultz (0000-0002-8009-075X, Princeton University, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume45
Issue1
Pages32-60
Publication date2001-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Conflict Resolution (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0027 • E-ISSN: 1552-8766
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0022002701045001002
OpenAlexW2169253034
LanguageEN
Citations received164
References cited38

The methodological issues that arise in testing Fearon's argument about domestic political audience costs and signaling in international crises are examined, in particular the difficulty of finding direct evidence (1) that escalating a crisis and then backing down jeopardizes a leader's tenure in office, and (2) that democratic leaders are more vulnerable to removal in this event than are nondemocratic leaders. Tests that seek to measure the existence and magnitude of audience costs encounter severe problems of partial observability and strategic selection: the effect of audience costs on a leader's political survival can only be detected by looking at cases in which the costs are actually incurred, but strategic choice implies that the probability of incurring audience costs is a function of their value. A formal model, brief case studies, and Monte Carlo simulations are used to show that these problems bias direct tests against supporting either of the audience cost propositions. Tests based on observed audience costs understate both the mean level of audience costs in the full population and the difference in means across regime types

Argument (complex analysis · Business · Democracy · Economics · Microeconomics · Observability · Political science · Politics · Population · Public economics · Selection (genetic algorithm · Sociology · Target audience · Value (mathematics · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Marketing · Political Conflict and Governance

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Unique citing works164
Citations per year6,56
Citation span2001 - 2026 (26)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedYes
Citation typesNeutral: 164
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