Worum geht es, wenn es um nichts geht?

Rational choice theories appear to have difficulties when it comes to explain behaviour in so called ‘low cost, low benefit’ situations. As a consequence, low cost situations are sometimes regarded as a serious problem of the rational choice paradigm as a whole. We demonstrate that, quite to the contrary, theories of rational action are perfectly well suited to understand the logic of low cost situations. The costs of information and decision making on the part of the actor and the clarity of incentive or cost structures on the part of the situation prove to be the central variables. Since there is a close link between low cost situations and certain collective good problems, the role of these variables is discussed with regard to the production of collective goods. In adapting an established model of routine based decision making, we show how the threshold of a low cost situation can be determined analytically.