636 International Organization The social science concept that comes closest to what web-search data cap- ture is public attention,or attentiveness,defined as the scarce resources that indi- viduals dedicate toward a political issue.30 Scholars of public attentiveness are adamant about differentiating it from public opinion,which bears repeating in the context of web searches:the data capture not opinion or preferences,but behavior. The heroic homo economicus assumption of perfectly informed individuals is largely obsolete.There has long been a recognition among economists themselves that rationality is bounded by limited information,and limited capacity to process it:in short,a"bottleneck of attention."31 Crucially,however, recent evidence suggests that the means by which individuals make up for the information they lack can usefully be modeled as resting on a premise of rationality. Information-seeking involves a decision:What piece of information must be pursued at the cost of what other bit of information to make a decision?As Simon, the scholar at the origin of attention economics,put it succinctly,"a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that atten- tion efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it."32 In this regard,lab experiments have shown that subjects access more information to make a decision concerning two centrist candidates than two candidates of extreme positions,the implication being that the information- seeking behavior itself has rational underpinnings,in this case because it takes additional information to distinguish choices that are very similar.33 Seeking information involves a trade-off.For instance,national news outlets come at the expense of local news sources,with corresponding implications for political behavior:a recent finding shows how the penetration of the New York Times in local markets was correlated with decreased political participation in local elections.34 Web searches allow one to observe something political scientists have lacked access to until recently:individuals seeking information.Given what one knows about the cost of,and the strategic behavior individuals display in seeking infor- mation,the existence of data on web searches allows one to ask the very question needed to test the assumptions of treaty-making models in the international political economy:do individuals care sufficiently about signals concerning their governments'violations that they react by seeking related information? 30.See Newig 2004;Ripberger 2011;and Jones 1994. 31.Simon1985,302. 32.Simon1971,40-41. 33.Herstein 1981. 34.George and Waldfogel 2006.Kaid(2002)finds that online information seeking among voters, as compared with exposure to the same information through passive media channels such as televi- sion,was associated with significantly greater political activity.The social science concept that comes closest to what web-search data cap￾ture is public attention, or attentiveness, defined as the scarce resources that indi￾viduals dedicate toward a political issue+ 30 Scholars of public attentiveness are adamant about differentiating it from public opinion, which bears repeating in the context of web searches: the data capture not opinion or preferences, but behavior+ The heroic homo economicus assumption of perfectly informed individuals is largely obsolete+ There has long been a recognition among economists themselves that rationality is bounded by limited information, and limited capacity to process it: in short, a “bottleneck of attention+”31 Crucially, however, recent evidence suggests that the means by which individuals make up for the information they lack can usefully be modeled as resting on a premise of rationality+ Information-seeking involves a decision: What piece of information must be pursued at the cost of what other bit of information to make a decision? As Simon, the scholar at the origin of attention economics, put it succinctly, “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that atten￾tion efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it+”32 In this regard, lab experiments have shown that subjects access more information to make a decision concerning two centrist candidates than two candidates of extreme positions, the implication being that the information￾seeking behavior itself has rational underpinnings, in this case because it takes additional information to distinguish choices that are very similar+ 33 Seeking information involves a trade-off+ For instance, national news outlets come at the expense of local news sources, with corresponding implications for political behavior: a recent finding shows how the penetration of the New York Times in local markets was correlated with decreased political participation in local elections+ 34 Web searches allow one to observe something political scientists have lacked access to until recently: individuals seeking information+ Given what one knows about the cost of, and the strategic behavior individuals display in seeking infor￾mation, the existence of data on web searches allows one to ask the very question needed to test the assumptions of treaty-making models in the international political economy: do individuals care sufficiently about signals concerning their governments’ violations that they react by seeking related information? 30+ See Newig 2004; Ripberger 2011; and Jones 1994+ 31+ Simon 1985, 302+ 32+ Simon 1971, 40– 41+ 33+ Herstein 1981+ 34+ George and Waldfogel 2006+ Kaid ~2002! finds that online information seeking among voters, as compared with exposure to the same information through passive media channels such as televi￾sion, was associated with significantly greater political activity+ 636 International Organization