The course deals with the general theory of decision-making regarding public policy and choice with a view on the so-called behavioural policymaking as well. In this context the law comes to the fore both in its mainly procedural and organisational fashion, typically embodied in the administrative law tradition, and in its function of laying down goals and objectives to pursue. The law of the European Union, as representative of the different traditions of the Member States’ public law, is used as the benchmark legal system.
To understand public policy decision-making the structure and outcomes of public policy will be studied by analysing the main decisional models: rational, rationally limited, and incremental. This traditional modelling of decision-making processes will be tested by comparing it with the insights from cognitive psychology which have to a large extent been incorporated into the traditional economic analysis of law through the seminal work of Sunstein and Jolls, leading to a new domain referred to as “behavioural law and economics”.
With the aim of understanding to what extent the legal point of view is relevant and useful within a decisional environment, we will study who are the players, which are their objectives, and what are their political, economic, knowledge-based, and legal means.
Finally, we will focus on how a decision is made by analysing in more detail formal procedural rules and ways of interaction between the players involved.