Exploration and Social Choice

The framework developed in this book provides a perspective on institutional change. According to the framework, the likelihood that a person supports a policy would depend on the expected benefits and costs of the policy, as well as the person’s openness to change (propensity for exploration). Once people evaluate a policy proposal, they vote for or against it based on both their perceived benefits of the proposal as well as their openness to change. If the proposal receives a majority vote, then it becomes a law. This chapter argues that institutional change is more likely to favor the preferences of people who are more open to change. In most democracies, these people tend to associate with liberal political ideologies. Thus, institutional change would tend to move in the direction outlined by liberal policies. This is the reason they appear progressive. This progressiveness, however, is not related to the nature of the policies, but rather to the greater willingness of their proponents to tolerate change. In response, conservative voters are expected to adopt beliefs overstating the social benefits of their platform to achieve a competitive influence on institutional change. The chapter also argues that some organizational structures, such as the federal government system and the franchise business model, could promote exploration by allowing their local representatives to experiment with alternative courses of action. The knowledge generated in this process could be shared among the whole population.