COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE WORKSHOP
Abstract: In this talk, I’ll use multiple methods—behavioral experiments, mathematical models, and agent based models—to establish the existence of behavioral spillovers between games, show that they affect institutional performance, and argue that the sequencing of how institutions are introduced into a society affects their performance. I will close with new work extending the baseline models to different institutional choice architectures, and explore how their spillovers enhance or hinder the performance of others, with implications for the growth of civic capacity and the robustness of democracy.
Jenna Bednar is professor of political science at the University of Michigan and a member of the external faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, a research think tank focusing on the science of complex systems. She also directs the University of Michigan’s academic semester internship program in Washington, DC. Her research focuses on how individual efforts collectively build social goods. Current work includes: robust system design, especially of federalism; states as innovators in federal systems; how culture affects the way people respond to laws and norms; transboundary water system governance; and human flourishing. Her book The Robust Federation: Principles of Design was awarded the Martha Derthick Best Book Award in recognition of its enduring contribution to the study of federalism.
This workshop is cosponsored by the Center for the Study of American Politics (CSAP) and the Yale School of Management (SOM) with support from the Initiative for Leadership and Organization at SOM.