PSC 101Exam # 1 Study Guide Lectures: 1 - 6Part I IntroductionKey Focus:Three Common Problems1. Social Choice Problems2. Collective Action Problems3. Principal-Agent ProblemsSocial Choice Problems- Majority vote will fail- There is no mandate- (Condorcet procedure) Everything against everything else where something wins every time [fails]- Everyone has a preference but final decision is something that no one wants- Arguing over process is arguing over preferenceCollective Action Problems- Everyone is worse of- Individuals better of not contributing - Groups of people better of contributing as a wholeSolving Collective Action Problems- The power to prevent More interaction but with possible punishment at hand- Force Appoint someone to punish those who don’t follow the rules Ex. Mafia (pay taxes or go to jail)Principal-Agent Problems- Agent works for principal- Problem comes from asymmetric information (misinformation and imbalance of power)- Higher person in charge of person below them- Main goal is to get the agent to work in the interests of the principal for the lowest cost possibleSolving Principal-Agent Problems (Controlling Agents)- Monitoring Make sure the agent is doing what the principal wants  Expensive in terms of time Can lead to false fidelity where the agent does what principal demands instead of their actual interest- Incentive Structures Agent gets a portion of the principal’s earnings More equality between agent and principal This method does not work in politics- Find a Compatible Agent Agent and principal have same interests People lie and may not actually have the same interestsPart II ConstitutionSocial Contract Theory- Belief that the government was formed by the opinions of the people- Social contract: universal agreement that avoids anarchy and into a normal government- No more divine right- It would be unpleasant and inconvenient if people ruled themselves- Hobbes vs. Locke Hobbes Human nature is dark without control from the government We need strong laws We the people are a problem We have the right to protect ourselves Locke We will be ok if we leave each other alone Right to investigate and have trial Hire people to do our jobs Principal-agent relationshipArticles of Confederation- First try for a “national” government for the United States as a whole- Result of the early-Revolutionary Continental Congress- Similar to the UN- Problem: national government was too weakWeak Government Under the Articles- No direct control over states- Can’t tax- Each states had one vote Problems With the Articles- Debt- Problems with trade- Economic downturn- Shay’s Rebellion (farmer want inflation to make debt go away)- People want new contractConstitutional Convention- Took place in 1787- Met in PA to discuss amending the Articles- No authority given to propose a new constitution- Federalists vs. Anti-federalists Federalists Favored stronger central government Thought the system was broken Anti-federalists Just wanted to tweak the Articles Favored stronger state governmentsThe Big Problem- Disagreement between large and small states- VA (large) vs. NJ (small)- CT Compromise VA, NJ, and CT PlansVA:- Apportioned by population- Senate chosen by House- Executive selected by House- Judiciary chosen by legislature- Council of RevisionNJ:- Equal representation- No Senate- Executive selected by legislature- Judiciary appointed by executive- No clear vetoCT:- One house each- Senate selected by state legislature- Executive selected by electors- Judiciary appointed by executive and confirmed by Senate- Presidential vetoProblem for FramersWanted to create a strong, newer, and more active government that wasn’t too strong or too active. They also didn’t trust a majority of the people to have good judgment. FactionGroup of people with an interest for something bad, which “trample on people’s rights”Preventing Factions- Give everyone the same thing (impossible)- Abolish liberties- We can’t prevent factions we can only try to limit them by: A large republic  Representation Diferent length terms Checks and balancesFear of Unstable Preferences- Bicameral Congress with indirectly elected Senate- Difficult amendment process 2/3 of each House of Congress Ratification by ¾ of state legislature 2/3 of state legislatures can call a convention to propose amendmentsPart III Public OpinionPublic Opinion- Citizens’ views on politics and government actions- A person’s attitude, view, and opinion- Opinions based of of attitude- Only opinions can be seen- The average statement given in a pollAttitude- Valence cognition towards something- An internal mental picture something can be bad, good, or indiferent- The root of many political activities- Can’t measure attitudes directlyOpinion- A basic question and answer exchange- Your response is your opinion- Can be based of of many attitudes- “Latent opinion” is a building opinionKey Focus:Qualities of Public Opinion1. Direction2. Intensity3. SalienceDirection- Positive or negative - Agree or disagree- Pay attention to large scale shiftsIntensity- Low intensity means that they wouldn’t give up much for it- High intensity means that they would give up much- Intensity matters- Intense minority can defeat less-intense majoritySaliency- Politically relevant- Matters to people- Matters to journalists- Matters to government- Not the same as intensityMeasuring Public Opinion- Done by polling- Done randomly- Small sample sizes (compared to entire population of US)- 1,000 good sample for 10,000 as well as 10,000,0000 if done right- Population size doesn’t matterUser’s Guide to Polls- When looking at TV poll results pay attention to Sample size or margin or error Sampling technique Population of interest Question wording Question orderSample Size- Sample size and margin error say the same thing- Margin of error is usually 3% out of a sample size of 1,000- The less respondents the larger the margin of error- Subgroups have a large margin of errorSampling Technique- Random phone polling Any valid number can be dialed Cheap- Internet polls Bad because can be clicked multiple times- Phone-in polls- Write-in