By RMS
As scholar Mina Addo discusses in this week’s lead precis, author Kurt Weyland demonstrates the applicability of the cognitive heuristic framework to policy diffusion. Weyland argues that this framework has the greatest capacity to explain the three key characteristics of policy diffusion: geographic clustering, temporal sequencing, and its substantive nature (commonality within diversity) (264).Weyland goes on to identify three “principal shortcuts” of the cognitive heuristics itself: availability, representativeness and anchoring.
The availability heuristic refers to policymakers’ tendency to focus on information that is easily accessible and grabs their attention. The representativeness heuristic refers to the policymakers’ ability to adequately evaluate policy in a short amount of time, which results in a quick judgement of success or failure. Finally, the anchoring heuristic is the notion that policy adopters will not substantially adapt the foreign policy to their domestic needs. As Weyland explains, initial understandings and judgements of a program surely have a “stickiness” that limits peoples’ change of opinion and policy adaption. However, Weyland does little to explain why some policy adopters do in fact adapt policy to their particular context.
Similar to the Chilean led diffusion of pension reform discussed by Weyland, the emergence and spread of conditional cash transfer programs was specific to the Latin American region. In 1997, Mexico became the first country to implement a conditional cash transfer program. The diffusion of the policy did indeed follow the S shape of temporality of was observed in the adoption of conditional cash transfers. Soon after Brazil followed Mexico’s lead, a slew of countries established conditional cash transfer programs throughout the 1990s and adoption slowed throughout the 2000s (ILO). The geographical clustering of policy diffusion was also observed in the spread of conditional cash transfers, with the majority of programs emerging throughout the region of Latin America.
However, the substantive nature of policy diffusion created by the anchoring heuristic is not as clear cut in the case of the diffusion of conditional cash transfer programs. Conditional cash transfer programs in Latin America have diverged significantly in design and implementation since their initial policy diffusion. As Weyland mentions, there is significant diversity in economic and political capacity throughout Latin America. For these exact reasons conditional cash transfer programs have been adapted to suit the needs of the poor in specific domestic context. For example, Chile’s conditional cash transfer program provides each family with an assigned social worker that visits the household once a month (ILO).
The program benefit of providing a monetary transfer can be seen as an anchored attribute within the policy. Whilst the provision of a social worker is a divergence from the initial policy diffused and is an adaptation to the higher capacity of the Chilean state. There are many policy nuances that the cognitive heuristic framework, as presented by Weyland, does not easily explain. Problematizing the anchoring heuristic has the potential to help scholars identify how and what factors contribute to the diversity in states adaptation of diffused policies.
Reference:
ILO (International Labor Office). Cash transfer programmes, poverty reduction and empowerment of women: A comparative analysis. 2013.
As scholar Mina Addo discusses in this week’s lead precis, author Kurt Weyland demonstrates the applicability of the cognitive heuristic framework to policy diffusion. Weyland argues that this framework has the greatest capacity to explain the three key characteristics of policy diffusion: geographic clustering, temporal sequencing, and its substantive nature (commonality within diversity) (264).Weyland goes on to identify three “principal shortcuts” of the cognitive heuristics itself: availability, representativeness and anchoring.
The availability heuristic refers to policymakers’ tendency to focus on information that is easily accessible and grabs their attention. The representativeness heuristic refers to the policymakers’ ability to adequately evaluate policy in a short amount of time, which results in a quick judgement of success or failure. Finally, the anchoring heuristic is the notion that policy adopters will not substantially adapt the foreign policy to their domestic needs. As Weyland explains, initial understandings and judgements of a program surely have a “stickiness” that limits peoples’ change of opinion and policy adaption. However, Weyland does little to explain why some policy adopters do in fact adapt policy to their particular context.
Similar to the Chilean led diffusion of pension reform discussed by Weyland, the emergence and spread of conditional cash transfer programs was specific to the Latin American region. In 1997, Mexico became the first country to implement a conditional cash transfer program. The diffusion of the policy did indeed follow the S shape of temporality of was observed in the adoption of conditional cash transfers. Soon after Brazil followed Mexico’s lead, a slew of countries established conditional cash transfer programs throughout the 1990s and adoption slowed throughout the 2000s (ILO). The geographical clustering of policy diffusion was also observed in the spread of conditional cash transfers, with the majority of programs emerging throughout the region of Latin America.
However, the substantive nature of policy diffusion created by the anchoring heuristic is not as clear cut in the case of the diffusion of conditional cash transfer programs. Conditional cash transfer programs in Latin America have diverged significantly in design and implementation since their initial policy diffusion. As Weyland mentions, there is significant diversity in economic and political capacity throughout Latin America. For these exact reasons conditional cash transfer programs have been adapted to suit the needs of the poor in specific domestic context. For example, Chile’s conditional cash transfer program provides each family with an assigned social worker that visits the household once a month (ILO).
The program benefit of providing a monetary transfer can be seen as an anchored attribute within the policy. Whilst the provision of a social worker is a divergence from the initial policy diffused and is an adaptation to the higher capacity of the Chilean state. There are many policy nuances that the cognitive heuristic framework, as presented by Weyland, does not easily explain. Problematizing the anchoring heuristic has the potential to help scholars identify how and what factors contribute to the diversity in states adaptation of diffused policies.
Reference:
ILO (International Labor Office). Cash transfer programmes, poverty reduction and empowerment of women: A comparative analysis. 2013.