Summary
Thomas Schelling's "Strategies of Commitment and Other Essays" presents a strategic perspective on individual and societal behavior, where people act to influence others' expectations. This viewpoint sees the mind as divided, with distinct rational/irrational and present-minded/future-minded components. Schelling's work is driven by policy concerns, addressing issues such as smoking, addictions, global warming, segregation, and nuclear war. While acknowledging core economic principles like forward-looking rationality, scarce resources, and the importance of incentives, he remains open to modifying these assumptions based on insights from other social science disciplines.
This collection showcases Schelling's unique approach to understanding human actions, highlighting how individuals' choices are shaped by their anticipation of others' reactions. Readers will grasp how seemingly irrational behaviors can be understood through this strategic lens, and how diverse policy problems can be analyzed by considering the interplay of individual decision-making and societal expectations. The essays offer concrete applications of these ideas to significant real-world challenges.
Key concepts
- Strategic perspective — Behavior motivated by influencing others' expectations.
- Separable mind — The mind viewed as having distinct rational/irrational and present-minded/future-minded parts.
- Policy concerns — Motivated by real-world issues like smoking, addictions, global warming, segregation, and nuclear war.
- Economic assumptions modification — Openness to adjusting standard economic principles when appropriate.
From the book
Description: Schelling--a 2005 Nobel Prize winner-- has been one of the four or five most important social scientists of the past fifty years, and this collection shows why. These essays convey his unique perspective on individuals and society. This perspective has several characteristics: it is strategic in that it assumes that an important part of people's behavior is motivated by the thought of influencing other people's expectations; it views the mind as being separable into two or more parts (rational/irrational; present-minded/future-minded); it is motivated by policy concerns--smoking and other addictions, global warming, segregation, nuclear war; and while it accepts many of the basic assumptions of economics--that people are forward-looking, rational decision makers, that…
Description: All of the essays in this new collection by Thomas Schelling convey his unique perspective on individuals and society. Schelling, a 2005 Nobel Prize winner, has been one of the four or five most important social scientists of the past fifty years, and this collection shows why.
Snippet: All of the essays in this new collection by Thomas Schelling convey his unique perspective on individuals and society.