The Outstater
A Mayoral Statement: Governing by Semaphore
AN ECONOMIST FRIEND has introduced me to the contract theory of “Signaling.” Very useful. You are going to need it the next time you hear an important official pronouncement.
The most well-known model involves job applicants signaling their ability level to potential employers. They might do this by presenting education credentials or simply dressing well for the interview, any attribute that might be prized by an employer.
The concept is applicable in situations where the capacity of the receiving party to access the necessary information is limited. Following the model above, and if we are talking about a constitutional republic, a city official can be thought of as the “employee” and a citizen as the “employer.”
Analyzing signals can be complicated, as with those coming from university presidents trying to mollifying both student activists and alumni donors. But for practice, let’s pop-analyze something simple — a recent statement by my mayor regarding a straightforward shooting in our city’s most popular shopping mall, the third in 10 months, one of them fatal.
First, the statement (in full) from the mayor, the employee with the info, addressing the citizen, the employer without the info:
“I want to thank the (police department) for their quick and effective response to the incident at (the mall). Violence like this has no place in our city. Our public safety team is to be commended along with the staff at the mall. It’s important that our residents and visitors are able to enjoy our community’s amenities without fear, and I want to reassure them that (our city) is a safe city. One of my top priorities as mayor will always be the safety and security of our residents and visitors.”
Now, the “Signaling” analysis:
- The statement was made during office hours the Monday after the Saturday shooting. The signaling, then, is that a shooting in a mall, although important enough to command a mayor’s attention, is not important enough to disrupt her weekend routine.
- The first three sentences are self-congratulatory. The mayor is commending the police and first-responders, signaling that she, as the person statutorily responsible for the public-safety workers, is doing a good job.
- The last two sentences stress the importance of citizens being able to walk and shop in safety, although that safety may be relative during episodes of live fire. The signaling is that the mayor is not in favor of people being shot. In fact, she is against it, all things considered.
- Finally, there are omissions that also are part of the signaling, as would be the case if someone showed up for a job interview, say, without any clothes. In addition to news of the wounded or the gunman still being at large, missing from the statement is any policy change that might keep the incident from repeating.
- Also missing is whether suspicious persons such as known gang members now will be stopped and frisked for weapons, an effective anti-crime tactic of yore (the signaling indicates not). Also, a receiver of the signaling is left to wonder what priority might be equal or higher than innocents being gunned down in a shopping mall.
To summarize: There may be shootings in the mall now and again but any victims can be assured that the mayor will in due time say that she is against them — the shootings, that is — that and congratulate anyone for whom she is responsible for doing their jobs.
They think we’re idiots, don’t they? — tcl
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