NSF Org:	SES Division of Social and Economic Sciences
Recipient:	UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Initial Amendment Date:	September 13, 1999
Latest Amendment Date:	October 3, 2001
Award Number:	9904700
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Frank P. Scioli Jr. SES  Division of Social and Economic Sciences SBE  Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
Start Date:	September 15, 1999
End Date:	August 31, 2002 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$87,066.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$87,066.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 1999 = $87,066.00
History of Investigator:	Bryan Jones (Principal Investigator) bdjones@austin.utexas.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	University of Washington 4333 BROOKLYN AVE NE SEATTLE WA  US  98195-1016 (206)543-4043
Sponsor Congressional District:	07
Primary Place of Performance:	University of Washington 4333 BROOKLYN AVE NE SEATTLE WA  US  98195-1016
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	07
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	HD1WMN6945W6
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	Political Science
Primary Program Source:	app-0199
Program Reference Code(s):	0000, OTHR
Program Element Code(s):	137100
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.075

ABSTRACT

Modern research on complex adaptive systems offers an approach capable of providing comparisons among various human institutions - - political, economic, and social - - within a single analytic framework. This research investigation explores the possibility of developing and testing theoretical models of formal institutions based on the fundamental assumptions of information processing in complex adaptive systems. The investigator tests inferences from viewing human formal institutions - - specifically political and economic institutions - - as complex information processing systems. Assuming that formal human institutions are comprised of boundedly rational decision-makers and a set of rules that structure the task environment of actors, the investigator derives a set of implications and tests these implications on outcome distributions from a variety of political and economic institutions.

The focus on outcome distributions allows the comparison of diverse institutions in a parsimonious manner. The investigator assembles data on markets (the daily returns of the Dow Jones Industrial Average), agenda processes (newspaper coverage of political events and the scheduling of Congressional hearings), elections (county-level presidential election returns), policy outcomes (statutes passed by the U. S. government), and budgetary outcomes (U.S. Congressional budgetary outcomes; state and local finances). Funds are requested to acquire additional data, extend existing data sets, and conduct comparative distributional analyses of outcome distributions.

The data set generated by this research will be of immense interest and value to other scholars interested in institutional analysis.

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