Periodic Report Summary 1 - POLECPUBECINF (Resource Allocation and Policy Choice through Democratic Bargaining or Conflict)
The research grant had been open for 8 months before its early termination at the end of July 2015, out of an initially projected duration of 48 months. The original timeline divided the projected work into four phases, each of which spanning about two semesters. In light of the early termination, we can only discuss deliverables with regard to the projected benchmarks for the first phase, and we are yet unable to draw conclusions and assess the socio-economic impact of a project that will continue for another three years, beyond the early termination of its funding by the EC’s Marie Curie Career Integration Grant. At this stage, we can only assess and report on the progress made during the time that this research has been funded and supported by the EC’s Marie Curie Career Integration Grant. The research project can be divided into three parallel tracks, corresponding to research on collective choice and policy-making via multilateral bargaining, electoral competition, and conflict. Each of these tracks was scheduled to follow a similar sequence of steps, which can serve to evaluate progress. Phase 1: Laying down a benchmark model, parsimonious, with the minimal ingredients and assumptions deemed essential to capture the strategic environment under study. Solving this model to generate a theory with predictions, comparative statics, and opening up new questions for further research. The end-result of this phase was to be one theoretical paper for each track. A measurable milestone for this phase is the production of one scientific paper per track, ready to submit to peer-review journals in the profession. The proposed timeline for the projection determined that within the first year of work Phase 1 should have been completed for the bargaining and electoral competition tracks, and only started for the conflict track that followed a different timeline (the conflict track Phase 1 was expected to be completed in year 2). After 8 months in which the grant has been open, the deliverables have been delivered as scheduled. The measurable milestone for Phase 1 was to be the production of one scientific paper per track, ready to submit to peer review journals in the profession. This milestone has been achieved, and in one case exceeded. In the bargaining track, a theoretical paper has been completed and submitted (January 2015) as projected, and accepted for publication (May 2015) in the Journal of Politics, a leading journal in political science. In the electoral competition track, a theoretical paper has also been completed and submitted (March 2015) as projected, in this case to the International Economics Review, where it currently awaits review. The intermediate goals of the project at this stage of development have thus been either been met or exceeded. Report covering the wider societal implications of the project, including gender equality actions, ethical issues, efforts to involve other actors and spread awareness as well as the plan for the use and dissemination of foreground At this preliminary stage of development, with its early termination after only 8 of the 48 projected months of duration, the project has not yet had any wider societal implications. No relevant ethical issues have arisen, and since the project has been terminated while still in its early stages, there has been only a limited opportunity to use or disseminate the partial, preliminary results obtained (coauthors and I have, however, presented these early results at academic conferences and workshops at Stanford, Manchester, Lund, Glasgow and Malaga). Since the research agenda will continue, (though no longer using funds from this grant), dissemination and use of results will occur as appropriate in future years to come.