Description
Book SynopsisWhy do very different countries often emulate the same policy model? Two years after Ronald Reagan's income-tax simplification of 1986, Brazil adopted a similar reform even though it threatened to exacerbate income disparity. This book demonstrates that bounded - not full - rationality drives the spread of innovations across countries.
Trade ReviewRunner-Up in the Twelfth Annual Robert W. Hamilton Book Awards "[An] important scholarly polemic...An advocate of in-depth case studies and cognitive psychology, Weyland examines the recent waves of reform of pension and public health-care systems in Latin America...As demands for social justice grow in Latin America, Weyland's formidable findings will take on particular urgency for both theorists and practitioners alike."--Richard Feinberg, Foreign Affairs "The author's systematic comparison of four potential explanations of policy diffusion breaks fertile ground in its realistic treatment of policy making. Weyland convincingly parries fashionable explanations centered on external imposition and constructivism."--C.H. Blake, Choice "This is an interesting and illuminating book, which will no doubt make an important contribution to our understanding of social sector reforms in the region and elsewhere. Some of its findings challenge widely held views... The operationalisation of bounded rationality perspectives in a cross-national policy reform context will make an important addition to the toolbox available to researchers."--Latin American Studies
Table of ContentsPreface vii Abbreviations xi Chapter 1: The Puzzle of Policy Diffusion 1 Chapter 2: Toward a New Theory of Policy Diffusion 30 Chapter 3: External Pressures and International Norms in Pension Reform 69 Chapter 4: Cognitive Heuristics in the Diffusion of Pension Reform 97 Chapter 5: External Pressures and International Norms in Health Reform 142 Chapter 6: Cognitive Heuristics in the Diffusion of Health Reform 181 Chapter 7: Bounded Rationality in the Era of Globalization 215 References and Interviews 239 Index 283
