IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jcmkts/v63y2025i4p1298-1317.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Theorising Bounded Rationality in EU Policy‐Making

Author

Listed:
  • Filipa Figueira

Abstract

This article proposes a theoretical framework combining multi‐level governance (MLG) with bounded rationality. MLG theories have become increasingly popular to understand European Union (EU) policy‐making and interactions between national, sub‐national and EU levels. At the same time, principles of bounded rationality are entering the public policy debate, highlighting the role of cognitive biases in policy formation. However, these two developments have been separate, as bounded rationality has been little used in EU studies. The article therefore proposes a framework integrating the two lenses. This sheds new light on the optimal allocation of tasks between EU and national levels, given the prevalence of different cognitive biases at each level. Findings are that EU‐level policy‐making can be hampered by availability heuristics and undefined preferences, whilst national policy‐making is prone to zero‐sum bias and myopia. Insights are applied to research policy as an example, helping to explain obstacles to EU integration in this area.

Suggested Citation

  • Filipa Figueira, 2025. "Theorising Bounded Rationality in EU Policy‐Making," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 1298-1317, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:63:y:2025:i:4:p:1298-1317
    DOI: 10.1111/jcms.13704
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13704
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jcms.13704?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:63:y:2025:i:4:p:1298-1317. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-9886 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.