Deliberate disproportionate policy response

Towards a Conceptual Turn

Bibliographic Data

ID7322969
AuthorsMoshe Maor (0000-0003-0411-2977, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume41
Issue1
Pages185-208
Publication date2019-11-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Public Policy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0143-814X • E-ISSN: 1469-7815
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0143814x19000278
OpenAlexW2984176278
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited117

Policy scholars tend to view disproportionate policy and its two component concepts – policy over- and underreaction – as either unintentional errors of commission or omission, or nonintentional responses that political executives never intended to implement yet are not executed unknowingly, inadvertently or accidentally. This article highlights a conceptual turn, whereby these concepts are reentering the policy lexicon as types of intentional policy responses that are largely undertaken when political executives are vulnerable to voters. Intentional overreactions derive from the desire of political executives to pander to voters’ opinions or signal extremity by overreacting to these opinions in domains susceptible to manipulation for credit-claiming purposes. Intentional underreactions are motivated by political executives’ attempts to avoid blame and may subsequently lead to deliberate overreaction. This conceptual turn forces scholars to recognise the political benefits that elected executives may reap from deliberately implementing disproportionate policies, and that such policies can at times be effective

Blame · Business · Commission · Economics · Law and economics · Lexicon · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Public relations · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Psychology · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Social Psychology

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