Petit M. (2002). Expertise and public decision making in face of uncertainty: the potential contribution of political economy. Montpellier (France) : CIHEAM-IAMM. 11 p. Conférence L'Organisation du Recours à l'Expertise Scientifique en Situation d'Incertitude, 2002/01/10-11, Paris (France).
Titre : | Expertise and public decision making in face of uncertainty: the potential contribution of political economy |
Auteurs : | M. Petit |
Type de document : | Actes de Congrès ou Communication isolée |
Editeur : | Montpellier [France] : CIHEAM-IAMM, 2002 |
Format : | 11 p. / 18 réf. |
Langues : | Anglais |
Langues du résumé : | Anglais |
Catégories : |
Thésaurus IAMM AIDE A LA DECISION ; POLITIQUE PUBLIQUE ; ECONOMIE ; EXPERT ; METHODE STATISTIQUE ; RISQUE ; ANALYSE ECONOMIQUE |
Résumé : | How to organize the recourse to expertise in the presence of uncertainty is indeed particularly topical. This paper focuses on the contribution which the new political economy can make to interpret the current controversies and suggests avenues to improve the public decision making process, including the role of experts in it. First we review the approaches devised by economists to study decision making under risk and uncertainty as well as the limitations of these approaches for social choices. Then through a new political economy approach, we focus on the process of public decision making and apply it to the use of experts in the face of uncertainty. This approach suggests a typology of the actors involved in the recourse to scientific experts in uncertain situations. Three categories can be identified: the experts themselves, public officials and representatives of civil society or of public opinion. The rationality of the behaviour of each type is first described. Then the study of the inter-relationships among the three types of actors leads, first, to analyse the contradictions resulting from the different incentives which they face and, secondly, to emphasize the role in the policy process of competition among expertises. Democratic control is then seen as essential to correct the incentives faced by public officials to minimize the risks involved for those who have little voice in the policy process. The implications of this analysis for improving the recourse to experts at the national and international levels are finally derived |
Congrès : | Conférence L'Organisation du Recours à l'Expertise Scientifique en Situation d'Incertitude, 2002/01/10-11, Paris (France) |
Cote : | Réservé lecteur CIHEAM |