The Costs of Decision-Making

Abstract

In this paper an attempt is made to construct the rudiments of a system of cost accounting to be used in the evaluation of the costs of employing decision makers and decision procedures. By “decision makers” I mean any individual, group, or mechanical device from whom or which decisions may be obtained, e.g., ordinary people, public officials, managers, committees, the United States Senate, a computer program, etc. By “decision procedures” I mean any techniques that may be used to obtain a decision, i.e., majority rule by a show of hands, scanning an encyclopedia, flipping a coin, asking an expert, natural deduction, etc. By “a system of cost accounting” I mean a classification scheme whose divisions and subdivisions could be useful in the systematic search for and organization of all those costs that may arise as a result of employing certain decision makers and/or procedures.