Christopher Hood and Martin Lodge
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199269679
- eISBN:
- 9780191604096
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019926967X.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter explores the reward dimension of public service bargains. It analyzes different forms and aspects of reward and then explores four specific types of reward bargains: pyramids and ...
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This chapter explores the reward dimension of public service bargains. It analyzes different forms and aspects of reward and then explores four specific types of reward bargains: pyramids and escalators, noblesse oblige, turkey race, and lottery of life. Each of these bargains is discussed, indicating potential difficulties and highlighting empirical examples. Mixes and matches as well as trends and tendencies are discussed, with some forms of reward bargain apparently in decline and others increasing in importance.Less
This chapter explores the reward dimension of public service bargains. It analyzes different forms and aspects of reward and then explores four specific types of reward bargains: pyramids and escalators, noblesse oblige, turkey race, and lottery of life. Each of these bargains is discussed, indicating potential difficulties and highlighting empirical examples. Mixes and matches as well as trends and tendencies are discussed, with some forms of reward bargain apparently in decline and others increasing in importance.
Tony Addison and Abdur R. Chowdhury
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199278558
- eISBN:
- 9780191601590
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199278555.003.0008
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Proposals are evaluated, from both an economic and an ethical viewpoint, for development funding through a global lottery, along with a complement to this: a global premium bond (a loan instrument in ...
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Proposals are evaluated, from both an economic and an ethical viewpoint, for development funding through a global lottery, along with a complement to this: a global premium bond (a loan instrument in which the interest takes the form of a lottery prize, the capital being repayable on request, so that it has the characteristics of a savings product, which makes it potentially attractive to ethical investors). The chapter starts by looking at how a global lottery might work, evaluating the issue by discussing lottery operators and their regulation, the market for lotteries, competition between the global lottery and national lotteries, the challenge posed by Internet gambling, revenue‐raising potential, cross‐county equity, distributional and welfare effects, ethical issues, and development education. The potential for a global premium bond is then analysed, summarising the UK premium bond scheme as a model for a global version, setting out the modalities of a global premium bond and highlighting the differences from a global lottery. It is concluded that global versions of both a lottery and a premium bond are viable and complementary in mobilizing more development finance.Less
Proposals are evaluated, from both an economic and an ethical viewpoint, for development funding through a global lottery, along with a complement to this: a global premium bond (a loan instrument in which the interest takes the form of a lottery prize, the capital being repayable on request, so that it has the characteristics of a savings product, which makes it potentially attractive to ethical investors). The chapter starts by looking at how a global lottery might work, evaluating the issue by discussing lottery operators and their regulation, the market for lotteries, competition between the global lottery and national lotteries, the challenge posed by Internet gambling, revenue‐raising potential, cross‐county equity, distributional and welfare effects, ethical issues, and development education. The potential for a global premium bond is then analysed, summarising the UK premium bond scheme as a model for a global version, setting out the modalities of a global premium bond and highlighting the differences from a global lottery. It is concluded that global versions of both a lottery and a premium bond are viable and complementary in mobilizing more development finance.
John Hawthorne
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199269556
- eISBN:
- 9780191601736
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199269556.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This book is organised around an epistemological puzzle, which consists of a tension between various ordinary claims to know and our apparent incapacity to know whether or not someone will lose a ...
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This book is organised around an epistemological puzzle, which consists of a tension between various ordinary claims to know and our apparent incapacity to know whether or not someone will lose a lottery. In its starkest form, the puzzle is this: we do not think we know that a given lottery ticket will be a loser, yet we normally count ourselves as knowing all sorts of ordinary things which entail that its holder will not suddenly acquire a large fortune. The author explores various potential solutions to this puzzle, and issues on the nature and importance of knowledge. In the process, he offers a careful treatment of pertinent topics at the foundations of semantics.Less
This book is organised around an epistemological puzzle, which consists of a tension between various ordinary claims to know and our apparent incapacity to know whether or not someone will lose a lottery. In its starkest form, the puzzle is this: we do not think we know that a given lottery ticket will be a loser, yet we normally count ourselves as knowing all sorts of ordinary things which entail that its holder will not suddenly acquire a large fortune. The author explores various potential solutions to this puzzle, and issues on the nature and importance of knowledge. In the process, he offers a careful treatment of pertinent topics at the foundations of semantics.
Christopher Lake
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199241743
- eISBN:
- 9780191599743
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199241740.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Ch. 6 looks at the position adopted by contemporary egalitarians on the moral status of natural talents—a position that draws much of its force from Rawls's claims about the arbitrariness of their ...
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Ch. 6 looks at the position adopted by contemporary egalitarians on the moral status of natural talents—a position that draws much of its force from Rawls's claims about the arbitrariness of their distribution. It reveals important ambiguities within that position, not least in terms of whether the worry is about natural talents in themselves or about the social mechanisms by which rewards attach to talents, natural or otherwise. This prepares the way for a broader discussion of the extent to which responsibility‐minded egalitarians can commit themselves to endorsing markets and market outcomes.Less
Ch. 6 looks at the position adopted by contemporary egalitarians on the moral status of natural talents—a position that draws much of its force from Rawls's claims about the arbitrariness of their distribution. It reveals important ambiguities within that position, not least in terms of whether the worry is about natural talents in themselves or about the social mechanisms by which rewards attach to talents, natural or otherwise. This prepares the way for a broader discussion of the extent to which responsibility‐minded egalitarians can commit themselves to endorsing markets and market outcomes.
Edward Craig
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198238799
- eISBN:
- 9780191597237
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198238797.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Objectivization forces the requirement of a high likelihood that an informant will be right if she is to be classified as a good one, but this does not, argues Craig, equal 1, for that figure has ...
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Objectivization forces the requirement of a high likelihood that an informant will be right if she is to be classified as a good one, but this does not, argues Craig, equal 1, for that figure has little basis in practical life. Nevertheless, the example of a lottery, and, in particular, the claim that one will not win, brings closer to our real experience the idea that one may not always be advised to act on information that has a chance of less than 1 of being true. A similar push towards this stringent idea is sometimes exerted by the wish to draw inferences from multiple premises and to be able to rely on the result. However, though real situations can require a very high likelihood, they do not force us to set it at 1; that final push comes from reflection lying outside the framework of everyday practice.Less
Objectivization forces the requirement of a high likelihood that an informant will be right if she is to be classified as a good one, but this does not, argues Craig, equal 1, for that figure has little basis in practical life. Nevertheless, the example of a lottery, and, in particular, the claim that one will not win, brings closer to our real experience the idea that one may not always be advised to act on information that has a chance of less than 1 of being true. A similar push towards this stringent idea is sometimes exerted by the wish to draw inferences from multiple premises and to be able to rely on the result. However, though real situations can require a very high likelihood, they do not force us to set it at 1; that final push comes from reflection lying outside the framework of everyday practice.
Richard Foley
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154725
- eISBN:
- 9781400842308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154725.003.0014
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter introduces the concept of luck in these lottery stories. To the degree there is an impression that luck is incompatible with knowledge, it arises because in everyday situations when one ...
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This chapter introduces the concept of luck in these lottery stories. To the degree there is an impression that luck is incompatible with knowledge, it arises because in everyday situations when one luckily acquires a true belief, one commonly does lack knowledge. It can be tempting to assume that the explanation for why a subject lacks knowledge in reverse lottery stories must have something to do with its being a matter of luck that S has a true belief about the winning ticket, but this is a temptation to be resisted. The chapter argues that what matters is whether her true belief is surrounded by adequate information, not whether she has been lucky.Less
This chapter introduces the concept of luck in these lottery stories. To the degree there is an impression that luck is incompatible with knowledge, it arises because in everyday situations when one luckily acquires a true belief, one commonly does lack knowledge. It can be tempting to assume that the explanation for why a subject lacks knowledge in reverse lottery stories must have something to do with its being a matter of luck that S has a true belief about the winning ticket, but this is a temptation to be resisted. The chapter argues that what matters is whether her true belief is surrounded by adequate information, not whether she has been lucky.
MAGALI TERCERO
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264461
- eISBN:
- 9780191734625
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264461.003.0008
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
This chapter presents powerful images and accounts that chronicle contemporary urban life in Mexico. The images discussed were captured by the photographer Maya Goded. These photographs and ...
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This chapter presents powerful images and accounts that chronicle contemporary urban life in Mexico. The images discussed were captured by the photographer Maya Goded. These photographs and narratives chronicle the desolation of death, the world of the child and the bleak world of prostitution. In addition to these, the woman’s prison, the attractions of lucha libre (masked wrestling), the national lottery and games of chance, and the mass rallies of the Zapatistas, are painted vibrantly through chronicles and accounts. In these chronicles and photographs, the theme of poverty and the failure of the government to address the needs of the marginalized people form the unifying voice of these accounts. Prostitution, wrestling and the lottery became means for the people to escape poverty and the humdrum of everyday lives marked with difficulties. And the mistreatment of children, the trafficking of the rights of women in prisons and the lack of systematic identification of the victims of death reflect the failure of the government to produce laws and services that protect its people. However, despite the bleakness of the photographs and the chronicles presented herein, they nevertheless reflect the resilience of the Mexicans in surviving the challenges of life despite the feeling of being marginalized.Less
This chapter presents powerful images and accounts that chronicle contemporary urban life in Mexico. The images discussed were captured by the photographer Maya Goded. These photographs and narratives chronicle the desolation of death, the world of the child and the bleak world of prostitution. In addition to these, the woman’s prison, the attractions of lucha libre (masked wrestling), the national lottery and games of chance, and the mass rallies of the Zapatistas, are painted vibrantly through chronicles and accounts. In these chronicles and photographs, the theme of poverty and the failure of the government to address the needs of the marginalized people form the unifying voice of these accounts. Prostitution, wrestling and the lottery became means for the people to escape poverty and the humdrum of everyday lives marked with difficulties. And the mistreatment of children, the trafficking of the rights of women in prisons and the lack of systematic identification of the victims of death reflect the failure of the government to produce laws and services that protect its people. However, despite the bleakness of the photographs and the chronicles presented herein, they nevertheless reflect the resilience of the Mexicans in surviving the challenges of life despite the feeling of being marginalized.
Ken Binmore
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195300574
- eISBN:
- 9780199783748
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300574.003.0003
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Microeconomics
This chapter shows how risk can be introduced into the rules of a game by admitting chance moves. The Monty Hall problem is offered as an example. Elementary probability theory is reviewed, and ...
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This chapter shows how risk can be introduced into the rules of a game by admitting chance moves. The Monty Hall problem is offered as an example. Elementary probability theory is reviewed, and random variables are explained in terms of lottery tickets. The games of Duel and Parcheesi are analyzed as non-trivial examples of games with chance moves.Less
This chapter shows how risk can be introduced into the rules of a game by admitting chance moves. The Monty Hall problem is offered as an example. Elementary probability theory is reviewed, and random variables are explained in terms of lottery tickets. The games of Duel and Parcheesi are analyzed as non-trivial examples of games with chance moves.
A. B. Atkinson (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199278558
- eISBN:
- 9780191601590
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199278555.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
As their Millennium Development Goals, world leaders have pledged by 2015 to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger, to achieve universal primary education, to reduce child ...
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As their Millennium Development Goals, world leaders have pledged by 2015 to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger, to achieve universal primary education, to reduce child mortality, to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, and to halve the number of people without safe drinking water. Achieving these goals requires a large increase in the flow of financial resources to developing countries – double the present development assistance from abroad. In examining innovative ways to secure these resources, this book, which is part of the UNU–WIDER Studies in Development Economics series, sets out a framework for the economic analysis of different sources of funding and applying the tools of modern public economics to identify the key issues. It examines the role of new sources of overseas aid, considers the fiscal architecture and the lessons that can be learned from federal fiscal systems, asks how far increased transfers impose a burden on donors, and investigates how far the raising of resources can be separated from their use. In turn, the book examines global environmental taxes (such as a carbon tax), the taxation of currency transactions (the Tobin tax), a development‐focused allocation of Special Drawing Rights by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the UK Government proposal for an International Finance Facility, increased private donations for development purposes, a global lottery (or premium bond), and increased remittances by emigrants. In each case, it considers the feasibility of the proposal and the resources that it can realistically raise, and offers new perspectives and insights into these new and controversial proposals.Less
As their Millennium Development Goals, world leaders have pledged by 2015 to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger, to achieve universal primary education, to reduce child mortality, to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, and to halve the number of people without safe drinking water. Achieving these goals requires a large increase in the flow of financial resources to developing countries – double the present development assistance from abroad. In examining innovative ways to secure these resources, this book, which is part of the UNU–WIDER Studies in Development Economics series, sets out a framework for the economic analysis of different sources of funding and applying the tools of modern public economics to identify the key issues. It examines the role of new sources of overseas aid, considers the fiscal architecture and the lessons that can be learned from federal fiscal systems, asks how far increased transfers impose a burden on donors, and investigates how far the raising of resources can be separated from their use. In turn, the book examines global environmental taxes (such as a carbon tax), the taxation of currency transactions (the Tobin tax), a development‐focused allocation of Special Drawing Rights by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the UK Government proposal for an International Finance Facility, increased private donations for development purposes, a global lottery (or premium bond), and increased remittances by emigrants. In each case, it considers the feasibility of the proposal and the resources that it can realistically raise, and offers new perspectives and insights into these new and controversial proposals.
Richard Foley
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154725
- eISBN:
- 9781400842308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154725.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter examines reverse lottery stories, which focus on the fortunate holder of the winning lottery ticket. It searches for the important gaps in the information of the subject S as she ...
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This chapter examines reverse lottery stories, which focus on the fortunate holder of the winning lottery ticket. It searches for the important gaps in the information of the subject S as she believes herself to have possessed the winning ticket despite having no sources of information confirming this fact. Nonetheless, she is correct, and is in possession of a true belief. The chapter further expands on this story to reveal even more gaps in information, and also reintroduces another subject of a story from one of the earlier chapters. Finally, the chapter brings up the concept of knowledge blocks to further complicate the reverse lottery stories.Less
This chapter examines reverse lottery stories, which focus on the fortunate holder of the winning lottery ticket. It searches for the important gaps in the information of the subject S as she believes herself to have possessed the winning ticket despite having no sources of information confirming this fact. Nonetheless, she is correct, and is in possession of a true belief. The chapter further expands on this story to reveal even more gaps in information, and also reintroduces another subject of a story from one of the earlier chapters. Finally, the chapter brings up the concept of knowledge blocks to further complicate the reverse lottery stories.
Virgil K.Y. Ho
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199282715
- eISBN:
- 9780191603037
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199282714.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
Each successive political regime in Canton criticized its predecessor for legalizing gambling, and hence ‘poisoning’ its people with a long list of gaming-related social problems. In official ...
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Each successive political regime in Canton criticized its predecessor for legalizing gambling, and hence ‘poisoning’ its people with a long list of gaming-related social problems. In official propaganda, gambling became such a highly politicized topic that the real situation was purposely obscured. In fact, the problem of compulsive gambling was not as common as alleged. The popularity of some forms of gambling revealed the commonness of rational betting among ‘gamblers’, and the sincerity of the governments in regulating gambling.Less
Each successive political regime in Canton criticized its predecessor for legalizing gambling, and hence ‘poisoning’ its people with a long list of gaming-related social problems. In official propaganda, gambling became such a highly politicized topic that the real situation was purposely obscured. In fact, the problem of compulsive gambling was not as common as alleged. The popularity of some forms of gambling revealed the commonness of rational betting among ‘gamblers’, and the sincerity of the governments in regulating gambling.
Simon J. Evnine
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199239948
- eISBN:
- 9780191716898
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239948.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics/Epistemology
It is argued that it is both rational for persons to believe the conjunctions of their beliefs and that they must do so to a large extent. Arguments against the rationality claim stemming from the ...
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It is argued that it is both rational for persons to believe the conjunctions of their beliefs and that they must do so to a large extent. Arguments against the rationality claim stemming from the Lottery and Preface paradoxes and from naturalized epistemology are answered. It is further argued that, under normal circumstances, what it is to believe a conjunction simply is to believe each of its conjuncts.Less
It is argued that it is both rational for persons to believe the conjunctions of their beliefs and that they must do so to a large extent. Arguments against the rationality claim stemming from the Lottery and Preface paradoxes and from naturalized epistemology are answered. It is further argued that, under normal circumstances, what it is to believe a conjunction simply is to believe each of its conjuncts.
ROBERT V. DODGE
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199857203
- eISBN:
- 9780199932597
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199857203.003.0016
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Behavioural Economics
This chapter looks at self-interest and group welfare in society. It introduces Schelling's view of a social contract to restrict self-interest from overcoming the general good, which is followed by ...
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This chapter looks at self-interest and group welfare in society. It introduces Schelling's view of a social contract to restrict self-interest from overcoming the general good, which is followed by an example he uses. The chapter is then concerned with Hardin's “The Tragedy of the Commons” as an explanation for the failure of individual cooperation in society's interest. Hardin described a multi-person prisoner's dilemma where it was in everyone's interest to cooperate but nobody had individual incentive to do so. Overfishing, pollution, and congestion are common problems which illustrate this. The remainder of the chapter is about the idea of fair division. Historical references come from Herodotus and the Bible. The method of “one cuts, the other chooses,” introduces Hugo Steinhaus, who expanded it to encompass “the last diminisher” as a way for physical objects to be distributed among “n” number of players. Steinhaus's method for “adding value” follows, where the total can exceed 100% of what is being divided. This involves the division of objects when claimants place different values on what is to be divided. The use of lottery and auction as methods for fair division are introduced and the chapter concludes with a Schelling problem, “Overbooked Airline Flight.” No solutionis provided; just guidelines to consider in determining what would be fair and what would be seen to be fair.Less
This chapter looks at self-interest and group welfare in society. It introduces Schelling's view of a social contract to restrict self-interest from overcoming the general good, which is followed by an example he uses. The chapter is then concerned with Hardin's “The Tragedy of the Commons” as an explanation for the failure of individual cooperation in society's interest. Hardin described a multi-person prisoner's dilemma where it was in everyone's interest to cooperate but nobody had individual incentive to do so. Overfishing, pollution, and congestion are common problems which illustrate this. The remainder of the chapter is about the idea of fair division. Historical references come from Herodotus and the Bible. The method of “one cuts, the other chooses,” introduces Hugo Steinhaus, who expanded it to encompass “the last diminisher” as a way for physical objects to be distributed among “n” number of players. Steinhaus's method for “adding value” follows, where the total can exceed 100% of what is being divided. This involves the division of objects when claimants place different values on what is to be divided. The use of lottery and auction as methods for fair division are introduced and the chapter concludes with a Schelling problem, “Overbooked Airline Flight.” No solutionis provided; just guidelines to consider in determining what would be fair and what would be seen to be fair.
Matthew Vaz
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780226690445
- eISBN:
- 9780226690582
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226690582.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This book explores conflict over everyday gambling in urban America from the 1950s through the 1980s. The popular illegal games "numbers" and "policy" thrived in African American communities in New ...
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This book explores conflict over everyday gambling in urban America from the 1950s through the 1980s. The popular illegal games "numbers" and "policy" thrived in African American communities in New York, Chicago and other cities for much of the twentieth century, providing an important source of both leisure and employment. Black political and civic leaders resisted police corruption and mafia incursions as they attempted to preserve these games as autonomous black economic institutions. As a series of gambling related cases led the Supreme Court to curtail police practices, and as urban reformers sought to curb police corruption, state governments attempted to replace these forms of gambling with state lotteries beginning in the late 1960s. Much of the black political leadership in the major northern cities insisted that if numbers gambling were to be legal, then it should be the basis for jobs and profits in black communities. This vision of legal gambling lost out to a system of government lotteries oriented towards extracting revenue from poor and working class areas. This book traces the conflict over gambling, and the path from illegal numbers to government lottery, as it plays out in the street, the courts, and in the halls of government.Less
This book explores conflict over everyday gambling in urban America from the 1950s through the 1980s. The popular illegal games "numbers" and "policy" thrived in African American communities in New York, Chicago and other cities for much of the twentieth century, providing an important source of both leisure and employment. Black political and civic leaders resisted police corruption and mafia incursions as they attempted to preserve these games as autonomous black economic institutions. As a series of gambling related cases led the Supreme Court to curtail police practices, and as urban reformers sought to curb police corruption, state governments attempted to replace these forms of gambling with state lotteries beginning in the late 1960s. Much of the black political leadership in the major northern cities insisted that if numbers gambling were to be legal, then it should be the basis for jobs and profits in black communities. This vision of legal gambling lost out to a system of government lotteries oriented towards extracting revenue from poor and working class areas. This book traces the conflict over gambling, and the path from illegal numbers to government lottery, as it plays out in the street, the courts, and in the halls of government.
Neil Duxbury
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198268253
- eISBN:
- 9780191683466
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198268253.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
Chance inevitably plays a role in law but it is not often that we consciously try to import an element of randomness into a legal process. This book explores the potential for the use of lotteries in ...
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Chance inevitably plays a role in law but it is not often that we consciously try to import an element of randomness into a legal process. This book explores the potential for the use of lotteries in social, and particularly legal, decision-making contexts. Utilising a variety of disciplines and materials, the book considers in detail the history, advantages, and drawbacks of deciding issues of social significance by lot and argues that the value of the lottery as a legal decision-making device has generally been underestimated. The very fact that there exists widespread resistance to the use of lotteries for legal decision-making purposes betrays a commonly held belief that legal processes are generally more important than are legal outcomes. Where, owing to the existence of indeterminacy, the process of reasoning is likely to be excessively protracted and the reasons provided strongly contestable, the most cost-efficient and impartial decision-making strategy may well be recourse to lot. Aversion to this strategy, while generally understandable, is not necessarily rational. Yet in law, reason is generally valued more highly than is rationality. The lottery is often conceived to be a decision-making device that operates in isolation. Yet lotteries can frequently and profitably be incorporated into other decision-frameworks. The book concludes by controversially considering how lotteries might be so incorporated and also advances the thesis that it may sometimes be sensible to require that adjudication takes place in the shadow of a lottery.Less
Chance inevitably plays a role in law but it is not often that we consciously try to import an element of randomness into a legal process. This book explores the potential for the use of lotteries in social, and particularly legal, decision-making contexts. Utilising a variety of disciplines and materials, the book considers in detail the history, advantages, and drawbacks of deciding issues of social significance by lot and argues that the value of the lottery as a legal decision-making device has generally been underestimated. The very fact that there exists widespread resistance to the use of lotteries for legal decision-making purposes betrays a commonly held belief that legal processes are generally more important than are legal outcomes. Where, owing to the existence of indeterminacy, the process of reasoning is likely to be excessively protracted and the reasons provided strongly contestable, the most cost-efficient and impartial decision-making strategy may well be recourse to lot. Aversion to this strategy, while generally understandable, is not necessarily rational. Yet in law, reason is generally valued more highly than is rationality. The lottery is often conceived to be a decision-making device that operates in isolation. Yet lotteries can frequently and profitably be incorporated into other decision-frameworks. The book concludes by controversially considering how lotteries might be so incorporated and also advances the thesis that it may sometimes be sensible to require that adjudication takes place in the shadow of a lottery.
Hélène Landemore
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155654
- eISBN:
- 9781400845538
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155654.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter stresses that deliberation is best designed for problem solving, in which cognitive diversity turns out to be more crucial than individual ability. Because deliberation allows the ...
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This chapter stresses that deliberation is best designed for problem solving, in which cognitive diversity turns out to be more crucial than individual ability. Because deliberation allows the weeding out of bad information and arguments from the good, it does not matter too much if the individuals taking part in the deliberation do not have maximal cognitive abilities. It matters more that the group is characterized by a high degree of cognitive diversity. If the group can be so characterized, the case can be made that including more people, which generally means including more cognitive diversity, will make the group smarter. The argument further translates into a defense of descriptive representation and the selection of representatives through random lotteries rather than election.Less
This chapter stresses that deliberation is best designed for problem solving, in which cognitive diversity turns out to be more crucial than individual ability. Because deliberation allows the weeding out of bad information and arguments from the good, it does not matter too much if the individuals taking part in the deliberation do not have maximal cognitive abilities. It matters more that the group is characterized by a high degree of cognitive diversity. If the group can be so characterized, the case can be made that including more people, which generally means including more cognitive diversity, will make the group smarter. The argument further translates into a defense of descriptive representation and the selection of representatives through random lotteries rather than election.
John McManners
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198270041
- eISBN:
- 9780191600692
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198270046.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
The question of loans for interest or ‘usury’ was much debated by eighteenth‐century churchmen, with the traditional ban being upheld in theory. But the legitimacy of reward for risk was accepted ...
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The question of loans for interest or ‘usury’ was much debated by eighteenth‐century churchmen, with the traditional ban being upheld in theory. But the legitimacy of reward for risk was accepted with regard to lotteries, provided they were for a good cause, and gambling in general, provided it was done in moderation. The ban on usury still made sense as far as protecting the peasantry was concerned, but was archaic with regard to commercial transactions. It was recognized by, for example, the Jesuits of Lyon, and largely ignored in practice.Less
The question of loans for interest or ‘usury’ was much debated by eighteenth‐century churchmen, with the traditional ban being upheld in theory. But the legitimacy of reward for risk was accepted with regard to lotteries, provided they were for a good cause, and gambling in general, provided it was done in moderation. The ban on usury still made sense as far as protecting the peasantry was concerned, but was archaic with regard to commercial transactions. It was recognized by, for example, the Jesuits of Lyon, and largely ignored in practice.
Peter Stone
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199756100
- eISBN:
- 9780199895120
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199756100.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
From the earliest times, people have used lotteries to make decisions—by drawing straws, tossing coins, picking names out of hats, and so on. (This practice is sometimes known as sortition, or ...
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From the earliest times, people have used lotteries to make decisions—by drawing straws, tossing coins, picking names out of hats, and so on. (This practice is sometimes known as sortition, or selection by lot.) They have placed citizens on juries, drafted men into armies, assigned students to schools, and selected lifeboat survivors to be eaten. Lotteries make a lot of sense in all these cases, and yet there is something absurd about them. They seem absurd because they do not make decisions based upon reasons. Indeed, they actively prevent reasons from being used. How can we resolve this paradox? This book offers a solution. Normally we want to make our decisions based upon reasons. But sometimes, we do not. Sometimes, in fact, we want to exclude reasons from decision‐making entirely. This is what lotteries can do. And they can perform this valuable service for us in a surprisingly large number of situations. There are times when we have reasons not to use reasons, and these are times when we need lotteries. The book examines a wide variety of examples of lottery use, demonstrates how all of them involve the exclusion of reasons from decision‐making, and develops the implications of this view for our thinking about the nature of rationality, allocative justice, and democracy.Less
From the earliest times, people have used lotteries to make decisions—by drawing straws, tossing coins, picking names out of hats, and so on. (This practice is sometimes known as sortition, or selection by lot.) They have placed citizens on juries, drafted men into armies, assigned students to schools, and selected lifeboat survivors to be eaten. Lotteries make a lot of sense in all these cases, and yet there is something absurd about them. They seem absurd because they do not make decisions based upon reasons. Indeed, they actively prevent reasons from being used. How can we resolve this paradox? This book offers a solution. Normally we want to make our decisions based upon reasons. But sometimes, we do not. Sometimes, in fact, we want to exclude reasons from decision‐making entirely. This is what lotteries can do. And they can perform this valuable service for us in a surprisingly large number of situations. There are times when we have reasons not to use reasons, and these are times when we need lotteries. The book examines a wide variety of examples of lottery use, demonstrates how all of them involve the exclusion of reasons from decision‐making, and develops the implications of this view for our thinking about the nature of rationality, allocative justice, and democracy.
Richard Foley
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154725
- eISBN:
- 9781400842308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154725.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter compares and contrasts lottery and preface cases. It first demonstrates some illustrative examples of both cases and then showcases their similarities. In the lottery example, the ...
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This chapter compares and contrasts lottery and preface cases. It first demonstrates some illustrative examples of both cases and then showcases their similarities. In the lottery example, the chapter's subject S has strong evidence that one ticket—she knows not which—is the winning ticket, and in the preface she has strong evidence that one of the book's claims—again she knows not which—is false; but in the lottery she seems to be in a position to know this proposition, while in the preface she seems not to be in a position to know the comparable proposition. The explanation for the difference here is that the gap in her information tends to strike us as significant in the one case but not the other.Less
This chapter compares and contrasts lottery and preface cases. It first demonstrates some illustrative examples of both cases and then showcases their similarities. In the lottery example, the chapter's subject S has strong evidence that one ticket—she knows not which—is the winning ticket, and in the preface she has strong evidence that one of the book's claims—again she knows not which—is false; but in the lottery she seems to be in a position to know this proposition, while in the preface she seems not to be in a position to know the comparable proposition. The explanation for the difference here is that the gap in her information tends to strike us as significant in the one case but not the other.
Neil Duxbury
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198268253
- eISBN:
- 9780191683466
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198268253.003.0007
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
This book has illustrated the advantages and drawbacks of chance and randomized social decision-making, claiming that arguments concerning such decision-making more often than not require ...
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This book has illustrated the advantages and drawbacks of chance and randomized social decision-making, claiming that arguments concerning such decision-making more often than not require qualification. Detailed scrutiny of randomized legal decision-making compels us to confront difficult, sometimes uncomfortable, questions concerning the role of reason in law and how we conceptualize justice. Although we are often understandably wary of resorting to lotteries to determine outcomes of legal significance, the idea that randomization might be employed more extensively within legal decision-making contexts ought not to be dismissed cursorily. Rigid application of some particular decision-making criterion to settle disputes might render adjudication less fraught with complexity and ambiguity. Depending on the criterion used, such application might even make the process of adjudication less partial. If the criterion is easy to apply, moreover, the costs of decision-making are likely to be reduced. One criterion which offers all of these qualities is random selection.Less
This book has illustrated the advantages and drawbacks of chance and randomized social decision-making, claiming that arguments concerning such decision-making more often than not require qualification. Detailed scrutiny of randomized legal decision-making compels us to confront difficult, sometimes uncomfortable, questions concerning the role of reason in law and how we conceptualize justice. Although we are often understandably wary of resorting to lotteries to determine outcomes of legal significance, the idea that randomization might be employed more extensively within legal decision-making contexts ought not to be dismissed cursorily. Rigid application of some particular decision-making criterion to settle disputes might render adjudication less fraught with complexity and ambiguity. Depending on the criterion used, such application might even make the process of adjudication less partial. If the criterion is easy to apply, moreover, the costs of decision-making are likely to be reduced. One criterion which offers all of these qualities is random selection.
