REPLY Limits to Growth Plan B (SD6989)

[SDMAIL Bill Braun]

Posted by  Bill Braun <bbraun at hlthsys.com>

Stephen Wehrenberg asks, "What structural conditions support the 
continued lack of buy-in? What policy levers or feedback loops might be 
added to that structure that might result in increasing that buy-in? 
What structure enables "this kind of mentality" as describing the 
sucker? Are these areas where tax policies might be effective? 
Education? A tipping point event like the sliding of the Greenland Ice 
Sheet? "

As an anecdotal observation, public policy makers (both politicians who 
promulgate laws and agencies that write the actual regs) respond to 
heat. The heat is generally from the electorate, sometimes with very 
long doubling times. I suspect that insights might be gained through a 
diffusion model of the variables that generate heat within the 
electorate, more than trying to model "buy-in" at the politician level.

Case in point, the President's rhetoric on climate change has changed. 
This is short of action, but it offers some evidence (as I interpret it) 
that the heat is rising (taken as a pun if you wish).

Bill Braun
Posted by  Bill Braun <bbraun at hlthsys.com>
posting date  Sun, 04 May 2008 11:42:15 -0400