INNOVATION, POLICY DIFFUSION AND DECISION-MAKING IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT: WHAT THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION CAN LEARN FROM THE UNITED STATES

• Main Author: D Schultz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) 2015-12-01
• Series: RUDN Journal of Public Administration
• Subjects: conditions of limited knowledge; innovation policy; government; conditions of bounded rationality; expirience of united states of america
• Online Access: http://journals.rudn.ru/public-administration/article/viewFile/6557/6010

Governments and its officials today face increasing pressure to innovate. But often the reforms and policies proposed are formulated under conditions of limited knowledge. This bounded rationality may foster policy innovation, but in many cases public officials instead may seek to learn from other jurisdictions in the formulation of their policy options. This paper examines how governments learn, innovate, and make decisions. Using the United States as an example, this article contends: 1) There is often a significant gap between social science and scientific knowledge and the information governments use in making policy; 2) That in many cases public officials lack the capacity to digest appropriate information when making policy; and 3) That government decision making under the conditions of bounded rationality often produces less innovation and more similarly in terms of policy responses. Overall, the article will generalize from the experience of the United States to indicate the implications for other nation states as they seek to formulate policies and learn from one another in global political-economic system.