How to build an institution

van Basshuysen, Philippe (2020) How to build an institution. Philosophy of the Social Sciences. ISSN 1552-7441

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Abstract

How should institutions be designed that “work” in bringing about desirable social outcomes? I study a case of successful institutional design—the redesign of the National Resident Matching Program—and argue that economists assume three roles when designing an institution, each of which complements the other two: first, the designer combines positive and normative modeling to formalize policy goals and to design possible mechanisms for bringing them about. Second, the engineer refines the design by conducting experiments and computational analyses. Third, the plumber implements the design in the real world and mends it as needed.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://journals.sagepub.com/home/pos
Additional Information:	© 2020 SAGE Publications
Divisions:	Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Date Deposited:	22 Oct 2020 23:13
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 02:21
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/107062

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