Calculus Of Choice Research Articles

On the Expressive Power of Languages for Static Variability

Variability permeates software development to satisfy ever-changing requirements and mass-customization needs. A prime example is the Linux kernel, which employs the C preprocessor to specify a set of related but distinct kernel variants. To study, analyze, and verify variational software, several formal languages have been proposed. For example, the choice calculus has been successfully applied for type checking and symbolic execution of configurable software, while other formalisms have been used for variational model checking, change impact analysis, among other use cases. Yet, these languages have not been formally compared, hence, little is known about their relationships. Crucially, it is unclear to what extent one language subsumes another, how research results from one language can be applied to other languages, and which language is suitable for which purpose or domain. In this paper, we propose a formal framework to compare the expressive power of languages for static (i.e., compile-time) variability. By establishing a common semantic domain to capture a widely used intuition of explicit variability, we can formulate the basic, yet to date neglected, properties of soundness, completeness, and expressiveness for variability languages. We then prove the (un)soundness and (in)completeness of a range of existing languages, and relate their ability to express the same variational systems. We implement our framework as an extensible open source Agda library in which proofs act as correct compilers between languages or differencing algorithms. We find different levels of expressiveness as well as complete and incomplete languages w.r.t. our unified semantic domain, with the choice calculus being among the most expressive languages.

Is Quebec independence still key in making sense of Canadian elections? A longitudinal analysis (2000–2021)

ABSTRACT The issue of Quebec independence was, until recently, considered the most important factor motivating Quebeckers’ vote choice in federal elections. However, the conventional wisdom has shifted and now holds, especially since 2011, that the explanatory power of the issue of Quebec secession would have decreased over time and would no longer be deemed as one of the few decisive determinants of citizens’ vote choice calculus. We provide the first longitudinal analysis of the impact of Quebec independence in federal elections using the Canadian Election Study from 2000 to 2021. Our findings show that, as expected, attitudes toward Quebec secession in explaining citizens’ vote choice were more important at the beginning of the twenty-first century, although only when comparing the discrepancy between the 2000 and 2004 elections. Between 2006 and 2021, the importance of Quebec independence has remained stable and key in explaining electoral outcomes.

What Are the Consequences of Snap Elections on Citizens’ Voting Behavior?

ABSTRACT In some democracies, the ruling party can strategically call a ‘snap’ (or ‘early’) election before the end of its mandate in order to maximise its chances of re-election. Little is known on the consequences of calling such an election. In this article, we contribute to this literature by analysing whether snap elections affect citizens’ voting behaviour. Does being angry at the decision of the incumbent government have an impact on citizens’ decision to vote or not to vote and/or their vote choice calculus? To answer these questions, we make use of two different and independently conducted surveys in Canada during a snap election. We do not find evidence that calling an early election reduces citizens’ likelihood to vote. However, when they do decide to vote, citizens that resent the decision to call an early election are substantially more likely to punish the incumbent government.

A night to remember: perspectives on the watershed 2018 Quebec election

This article introduces a special issue that takes a close look at the outcome of the October 2018 Quebec election where a newly created party (the Coalition Avenir Quebec) took power with a majority of seats. The special issue’s five articles collectively examine different factors having played a role in shaping Quebec citizens’ voting behavior in 2018. The extent to which citizens decide to turn out at the district level and their vote choice calculus are both investigated. The latter is analyzed through the lens of long-term factors such as language, attitudes toward Quebec independence, and party identification, as well as more short-term factors such as policy preferences on emerging issues like immigration and the environment. While several contributions point toward an important, perhaps long-lasting, realignment of the Quebec party system, others also highlight some elements of continuity, bringing nuance to an overall explanation of the election’s outcome.

What is it about bicycling? Evidence from Davis, California

Enjoyment of alternatives to driving can make up for what are often longer travel times in the mode choice calculus. In particular, studies show that liking of bicycling is a significant predictor of bicycling, but few studies have systematically explored what it is about bicycling that people like. We address this question in an exploratory analysis of positive statements about bicycling drawn from 54 in-depth interviews with residents of Davis, California about their experiences with bicycling over their lifetimes. Eight themes emerged from our analysis of these statements: activities, bonding, sensations, feelings, pride, convenience, nice places, and memories. The incidence of themes differs across stages of life and gender. Participants often talked about the freedom and excitement of bicycling when they were children, for example, but tended to focus on convenience and health benefits when talking about bicycling as adults. These results reinforce findings from previous studies while adding new dimensions. This study provides a starting point for further research as well as guidance for the development of policies and programs to encourage more bicycling.

An extraordinary election? A longitudinal perspective of the Québec 2018 election

From 1970 to 2018, either the Quebec Liberal Party or the Parti Quebecois won the elections in Quebec. The Coalition Avenir Quebec ended this long period of bipartisan alternation by winning a majority of seats in the 2018 election. Using datasets that cover five elections (2007, 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2018) over a period of 11 years, we provide a unique longitudinal perspective of citizens’ vote choice calculus. More specifically, we analyse long-term factors that are known to be crucial to make sense of electoral outcomes. Do factors such as generations, sex, attitudes towards Quebec sovereignty and party identification have the same weight in voters’ calculus over time? Our results show a relative stability, but also several interesting variations, especially regarding the effect of support for Quebec independence. This perspective deepens our understanding of recent political developments in Quebec politics.

Intensity, moderation, and the pressures of expectation: Calculation and coercion in the street‐level practice of welfare conditionality

AbstractThis article offers a street‐level perspective on welfare conditionality as it was practiced in contracted‐out UK activation programs between 2008 and 2015. Drawing on observation and in‐depth interviews, the article illustrates the ways that behavioral conditionality provided street‐level workers with the means to intensify or moderate activation for particular claimants. Responding to arguments about the curtailment of street‐level discretion, the article argues that in the particular context of target‐driven, work‐first, and otherwise highly constrained services, discretion resided in the ability to intensify or moderate conditionality and its coercive potential—in decisions about how, on whom, and to what extent it would be applied. The article argues that attending to this form of discretion provides an alternative frame through which to view the differentiated treatment typically understood as “creaming” and “parking.” In so doing, the article problematizes accounts that draw clear lines between calculative, normative, and dispositional forms of street‐level reason and practice. It shows how advisors' responses to the “street‐level calculus of choice” were articulated in terms of expectation, where attempts at future‐oriented calculation necessarily entailed making other forms of speculative and normative judgement about claimants and their situations. The article thus contributes to an understanding of both the causes and meaning of differentiated treatment in conditional welfare services.

Playing for fun or for profit: how extrinsically-motivated and intrinsically-motivated players make the choice between competing dual-purposed gaming platforms

An online poker site is a good example of a dual-purposed information system that is used for both fun and making money. In this study, we address the platform selection problem associated with online poker sites by investigating the features online gamers value when selecting a platform. We test the differences in preferences for online gaming platforms between two types of users: primarily extrinsically-motivated and primarily intrinsically-motivated players. Surprisingly, when comparing the importance scores of the features (usability, enjoyment, functionalities, poker network, loyalty program, and reputation), we observe very little difference between the two user groups. The only difference was that loyalty programs were valued considerably more by extrinsically-motivated players. One would have expected that features such as functionalities, poker network, and reputation would dominate the choice calculus for extrinsically-motivated players and that features such as usability and enjoyment would dominate the choice calculus for intrinsically-motivated players. We interpret this surprising finding as providing support to the claim that utilitarian and hedonic values are becoming increasingly intertwined. In this article, we provide alternative interpretations for this surprising result and discuss its theoretical and managerial implications. Because this is an exploratory study, we also note several avenues for future research.

The Flexibility of Fertility Preferences in a Context of Uncertainty.

The Flexibility of Fertility Preferences in a Context of Uncertainty.

Condemning corruption while condoning inefficiency: an experimental investigation into voting behavior

This article reports results from an economic experiment that investigates the extent to which voters punish corruption and waste in elections. While both are responsible for reductions in voters’ welfare, they are not necessarily perceived as equally immoral. The empirical literature in political agency has not yet dealt with these two dimensions of voters’ choice calculus. Our results suggest that morality and norms are indeed crucial for a superior voting equilibrium in systems with heterogeneous politicians: while corruption always is punished, self-interest alone—in the absence of norms—leads to the acceptance and perpetuation of waste and social losses.

The demography of words: The global decline in non-numeric fertility preferences, 1993–2011

This paper examines the decline in non-numeric responses to questions about fertility preferences among women in the developing world. These types of response—such as ‘don’t know’ or ‘it’s up to God’—have often been interpreted through the lens of fertility transition theory as an indication that reproduction has not yet entered women’s ‘calculus of conscious choice’. However, this has yet to be investigated cross-nationally and over time. Using 19 years of data from 32 countries, we find that non-numeric fertility preferences decline most substantially in the early stages of a country’s fertility transition. Using country-specific and multilevel models, we explore the individual- and contextual-level characteristics associated with women’s likelihood of providing a non-numeric response to questions about their fertility preferences. Non-numeric fertility preferences are influenced by a host of social factors, with educational attainment and knowledge of contraception being the most robust and consistent predictors.

Corporate Reputation’s Invisible Hand: Bribery, Rational Choice, and Market Penalties

Drawing upon rational choice and investor attention theories, we examine how accusations of corporate bribery and subsequent investigations shape market reactions. Using event study methodology to measure loss in firm value for public firms facing bribery investigations from 1978 to 2010, we found that total market penalties amounted to $60.61 billion. We ran moderated multiple regression analysis to examine further the degree to which the unique characteristics of bribery explain variations in market penalties. Companies committing bribery in less corrupt host countries and with the involvement of compromised executives experienced greater market penalties than did other companies. After partitioning share value losses into components for regulatory penalties, class action settlements, and loss to reputation, we found that reputational penalties account for 81.8¢ of every dollar of share value loss. Omission of reputational penalties in rational choice calculus underestimates bribery costs by 4.5 times. The results suggest that firms should not underestimate the importance of market-imposed reputational penalties by merely considering regulator-imposed fines and sanctions.

Reinterpretingp: A New Theory of How Individual Votes Contribute to Electoral Outcomes

In the rational choice calculus of voting, p represents the probability that an individual vote will have an instrumental effect on the outcome of an election. The well-known paradox of turnout arises from the fact that a single vote has virtually no chance of being pivotal in any large election, even when the race is extremely close. This article criticizes the conventional interpretation of p, suggesting an arguably more plausible and normatively superior alternative to pivotal voting theory. The theory of efficacious set causation, based on the work of Richard Tuck, provides an instrumentally rational justification for individuals to participate in large elections, thus resolving the long-standing paradox of turnout. The article analyzes Tuck's theory and elaborates upon it, offering a formal model of how this novel interpretation of p could be calculated in actual elections. Highlighting how institutions of election law and administration reflect basic conceptions of democratic theory, the article discusses normative and policy implications—related to the participatory and competitive schools of democracy—that follow from this new understanding of how individual votes contribute to an election outcome.

Two Logics of Indirect Governance: Delegation and Orchestration

Most governance is indirect, carried out through intermediaries. Governors do not govern targets directly, but bring in third parties to increase efficiency, effectiveness or legitimacy. Sometimes these third parties are internal to the governor, as in the case of government bureaucracies, but often they are external, operating at some distance from the governor. It has become common to treat indirect governance as a process of delegation to be analyzed through Principal-Agent theory (the P-A approach). We agree that much indirect governance can be understood in this way. Yet not all indirect governance can be properly understood as P-A delegation. Governors do not always have hard control over their agents. Often they lack the authority or power to grant or rescind third parties’ authority (at acceptable cost), and rely instead on soft inducements to mobilize intermediaries and keep them in line. In a recent book (Abbott et al. 2014a), we develop Orchestrator-Intermediary theory (O-I theory) to analyze soft, indirect forms of governance. Here we introduce O-I theory and contrast it to P-A theory. We highlight the commonalities and differences between orchestration and delegation, discuss the governor’s calculus of choice between them, and consider the relative effectiveness of orchestration.

The Calculus of Ethnic Minority Voting in Britain

Using data from the 2010 UK general election, the article shows that there is a distinctive calculus of party choice among Britain's overwhelmingly Labour-supporting ethnic minorities. Ethnic minority (EM) voters are similar to whites in the importance they accord to partisanship and valence considerations in deciding which party they vote for. However, EM voters place less emphasis on ideological spatial calculations. Additionally, across all ethnic minority groups, there is an important – and differentiated – role for perceptions of discrimination. In 2010, personal experience of (egocentric) discrimination tended to damage Labour as the incumbent governing party. In contrast, perceptions of (sociotropic) discrimination against fellow EM citizens interacted with participation in British cultural practices to increase support for Labour. These findings reflect the history of Labour and Conservative governments in the UK. Labour is the only party that, in power, has legislated actively to promote ethnic minority rights and interests.

The Choice Calculus

Many areas of computer science are concerned with some form of variation in software---from managing changes to software over time to supporting families of related artifacts. We present the choice calculus, a fundamental representation for software variation that can serve as a common language of discourse for variation research, filling a role similar to the lambda calculus in programming language research. We also develop an associated theory of software variation, including sound transformations of variation artifacts, the definition of strategic normal forms, and a design theory for variation structures, which will support the development of better algorithms and tools.

Handcrafting Attachment: A User-Centered Approach

Management, above all, is the controlling element responsible for coordinating the three basic business functions; production, marketing, and finance. Mechanisms exist to facilitate the finance function with influence coming from outside regulatory bodies such as the AICPA, IIA, SEC, and other regulators. Integrating the finance function into organizations, then, becomes somewhat generic (although some would argue this point). Coordinating the functions of marketing and production is a much more difficult endeavor because it lacks the standardization seen in finance. This paper suggests employing a more user-focused approach as a means to improving the overall quality of products, and eventually, the success of the organization. Specifically, this paper explores the role of the human brain in the calculus of choice, discusses the role of consumer involvement as it leads to product attachment, and offers suggestions for employing contextual research to improve product design and quality.

A language for software variation research

Managing variation is an important problem in software engineering that takes different forms, ranging from version control and configuration management to software product lines. In this paper, I present our recent work on the choice calculus, a fundamental representation for software variation that can serve as a common language of discourse for variation research, filling a role similar to lambda calculus in programming language research. After motivating the design of the choice calculus and sketching its semantics, I will discuss several potential application areas.

Two Dollar Challenge: Learning how the Other Half Lives

Almost half of the world's population lives on less than $2 a day. This number motivates the Two Dollar Challenge. Each year my students and I choose a partner, set a monetary goal, and take the Challenge. For five days and four nights we constrain our daily income to two dollars. Those four nights are spent in makeshift shelters on campus. We also limit our access to water, clothing, and other preexisting sources of wealth. For every day and night successfully completed sponsors donate funds to the Challenge. Our first partner was KIVA.org. Together, with these funds, we were able to extend relatively low-cost business loans to entrepreneurs in developing and transitioning economies. This exercise in experiential learning touches upon a number of concepts covered in an Economic Development course - most importantly the daily choice calculus of those in poverty.

Readiness, willingness and ability to use contraception in Bangladesh

In his frequently quoted article, Coale (1973) proposes that one weakness of the demographic transition theory is that it indicates a high degree of modernization as sufficient to cause a fall of fertility, without indicating the degree of modernization that is necessary. By summarizing the findings of historical studies of European communities, Coale proposed three broad conditions necessary for fertility transition. He argued that modernization ultimately establishes these conditions, but that they can also occur in communities that have undergone little modernization. Lesthaeghe and Vanderhoeft (1998) later described the three conditions for fertility transition under the heading “readiness”, “willingness” and “ability”. Economic readiness means that fertility control must be advantageous to the actor so that fertility is within the calculus of conscious choice. Willingness means that fertility control must be legitimate and normatively acceptable. The basic question addressed by “willingness” is to what extent fertility control runs counter to established traditional beliefs and codes of conduct, and to what extent there is a willingness to overcome objections and fears. Ability refers to the availability and accessibility of contraceptive techniques. Similarly, Ahmed (1987: 363), applying Easterlin’s supply-demand theory of fertility observes that “studies on contraceptive use most often view three variables-motivation, attitude, and access-as the key determinants”. Motivation stems from having or expecting to have too many children or having them too soon. Although this has similarity with Coale’s notion of “economic readiness”, it does not necessarily capture whether fertility control is economically advantageous to an individual. In this paper the authors name Easterlin’s notion of motivation as simply “readiness” to distinguish it from Coale’s broader notion of “economic readiness”. Attitude refers to broad notions of acceptability of family planning in general and feelings about specific contraceptive methods in particular and is similar to Coale’s notion of willingness. Access or the “costs of fertility regulation”, as described by Easterlin (1975) pertains to the availability of contraceptives and selected services and is similar to Coale’s notion of ability.