Policy persistence, risk estimation and policy underreaction

Proportionate and disproportionate policy responses to climate change: core concepts and empirical applications

“…Maor (2012) complements this line reasoning by introducing the idea of over-confidence by policy-makers as another explanatory factor. Scholars have also focused on constitutional rules and institutional procedures (Maor, 2014a) and flawed decision-making processes such as groupthink (Janis, 1982) and polythink (Mintz & Wayne, 2016) as determinants of disproportionate policy responses. We find the notion of policy over-reaction more appropriate than the notion of policy over-investment developed by Jones et al (2014), because it covers broad areas of national interest such as economic efficiency, social welfare, social justice, sustainability, and individual well-being, rather than being restricted to narrow considerations of economic efficiency.…”

“…By contrast, policy under-reaction can be understood as a situation in which the policy adopted by decision-makers provides net utility (i.e. the difference between benefits and costs) which is smaller than the one that would have been obtained had a different policy been enacted (Maor, 2014a). This paper represents a first attempt to elaborate on the concept of disproportionate policy and then apply it -as an intentional and strategic policy response -to the area of climate change.…”

Over-reaction and under-reaction in climate policy: an institutional analysis

“…For example, lag may mean that although a response from the policy-making system is adequate in terms of its size or intensity, it is late and therefore inadequate, which can be equated to an under-reaction (Maor, 2014a(Maor, , 2016Maor et al, 2017). Likewise, a policy response may come too early and therefore be inadequate, which again we conceive to be an over-reaction (Maor, 2012(Maor, , 2014bMaor et al, 2017).…”

“…The everyday reality of governing, however, is often very different. The range of responses -as we will show in the field of climate change policy -is often quite variable and views tend to differ on whether they constitute adequate responses (see Maor, 2012Maor, , 2014aMaor, , 2014bMaor, , 2016. Why do governments, both as a whole and at the level of individual public organizations, often find it difficult to respond?…”

“…sea walls and other flood defences) that have existed for a while, but perhaps were adopted in other policy sectors (such as urban and spatial planning) and for 'non' climate reasons. Lastly, we assume that individuals in organizations matter, which aligns well with the actorcentred approaches advanced by Maor (2012Maor ( , 2014aMaor ( , 2014bMaor ( , 2016.…”