Economic Theory and Cognitive Science

Economic Theory and Cognitive Science
Author: Don Ross
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 455
Release: 2007-01-26
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0262681684

In this study, Don Ross explores the relationship of economics to other branches of behavioral science, asking, in the course of his analysis, under what interpretation economics is a sound empirical science. The book explores the relationships between economic theory and the theoretical foundations of related disciplines that are relevant to the day-to-day work of economics—the cognitive and behavioral sciences. It asks whether the increasingly sophisticated techniques of microeconomic analysis have revealed any deep empirical regularities—whether technical improvement represents improvement in any other sense. Casting Daniel Dennett and Kenneth Binmore as its intellectual heroes, the book proposes a comprehensive model of economic theory that, Ross argues, does not supplant, but recovers the core neoclassical insights, and counters the caricaturish conception of neoclassicism so derided by advocates of behavioral or evolutionary economics. Because he approaches his topic from the viewpoint of the philosophy of science, Ross devotes one chapter to the philosophical theory and terminology on which his argument depends and another to related philosophical issues. Two chapters provide the theoretical background in economics, one covering developments in neoclassical microeconomics and the other treating behavioral and experimental economics and evolutionary game theory. The three chapters at the heart of the argument then apply theses from the philosophy of cognitive science to foundational problems for economic theory. In these chapters, economists will find a genuinely new way of thinking about the implications of cognitive science for economics, and cognitive scientists will find in economic behavior, a new testing site for the explanations of cognitive science.

Philosophy of Economics

Philosophy of Economics
Author: Uskali Mäki
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 929
Release: 2012-06-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 044451676X

Part of the Handbook of the Philosophy of Science Series edited by: Dov M. Gabbay King's College, London, UK; Paul Thagard University of Waterloo, Canada; and John Woods University of British Columbia, Canada. Philosophy of Economics investigates the foundational concepts and methods of economics, the social science that analyzes the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. This groundbreaking collection, the most thorough treatment of the philosophy of economics ever published, brings together philosophers, scientists and historians to map out the central topics in the field. The articles are divided into two groups. Chapters in the first group deal with various philosophical issues characteristic of economics in general, including realism and Lakatos, explanation and testing, modeling and mathematics, political ideology and feminist epistemology. Chapters in the second group discuss particular methods, theories and branches of economics, including forecasting and measurement, econometrics and experimentation, rational choice and agency issues, game theory and social choice, behavioral economics and public choice, geographical economics and evolutionary economics, and finally the economics of scientific knowledge. This volume serves as a detailed introduction for those new to the field as well as a rich source of new insights and potential research agendas for those already engaged with the philosophy of economics. Provides a bridge between philosophy and current scientific findings Encourages multi-disciplinary dialogue Covers theory and applications

Philosophy of Economic Behavior

Philosophy of Economic Behavior
Author: Nara Rela
Publisher: Editora Dialética
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2021-11-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 652521050X

Why do economic models often fail in their predictions? Why do economists and financial market professionals make foolish decisions even though they know they may be harmful in the future? Why do many competent people in their financial professional life make wrong decisions in their personal finances? Why does economics today seem to us to have the characteristics of an exact science? These are some of the questions that Philosophy of Economic Behavior aims to answer. This is a new field that encompasses both behavioral and psychological studies of economics in the light of philosophical thought. Economics is primarily a human and applied social science, and its study is based on human behavior within the economy. The main purpose of the book is to present its fundaments, focusing on the individual and not the market nor the government. The conclusions drawn here indicate the starting point as a basis for the outcome of many possible approaches: psychology of economics, behavioral economics, philosophy of emotions, philosophy of economics, nudges and other techniques that influence the decision making, ethics of economic behavior, ethics of decision making, ethics of the financial system (banks, startups, digital banks, investments, cryptocurrencies, etc.), education/health/socio-cultural condition/employment/ income vs. economic behavior, influence of algorithms in decision making, economic behavior and globalization, and many other relevant topics.

Theory of Games and Economic Behavior

Theory of Games and Economic Behavior
Author: John Von Neumann
Publisher: Diana
Total Pages: 660
Release: 2020-01-29
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 9785608789779

This is the classic work upon which modern-day game theory is based. What began as a modest proposal that a mathematician and an economist write a short paper together blossomed, when Princeton University Press published Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. In it, John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern conceived a groundbreaking mathematical theory of economic and social organization, based on a theory of games of strategy. Not only would this revolutionize economics, but the entirely new field of scientific inquiry it yielded--game theory--has since been widely used to analyze a host of real-world phenomena from arms races to optimal policy choices of presidential candidates, from vaccination policy to major league baseball salary negotiations. And it is today established throughout both the social sciences and a wide range of other sciences.

The Morality of Economic Behaviour

The Morality of Economic Behaviour
Author: Vangelis Chiotis
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 153
Release: 2020-05-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 135116886X

The links between self-interest and morality have been examined in moral philosophy since Plato. Economics is a mostly value-free discipline, having lost its original ethical dimension as described by Adam Smith. Examining moral philosophy through the framework provided by economics offers new insights into both disciplines and the discussion on the origins and nature of morality. The Morality of Economic Behaviour: Economics as Ethics argues that moral behaviour does not need to be exogenously encouraged or enforced because morality is a side effect of interactions between self-interested agents. The argument relies on two important parameters: behaviour in a social environment and the effects of intertemporal choice on rational behaviour. Considering social structures and repeated interactions on rational maximisation allows an argument for the morality of economic behaviour. Amoral agents interacting within society can reach moral outcomes. Thus, economics becomes a synthesis of moral and rational choice theory bypassing the problems of ethics in economic behaviour whilst promoting moral behaviour and ethical outcomes. This approach sheds new light on practical issues such as economic policy, business ethics and social responsibility. This book is of interest primarily to students of politics, economics and philosophy but will also appeal to anyone who is interested in morality and ethics, and their relationship with self-interest.

Altruism, Morality, and Economic Theory

Altruism, Morality, and Economic Theory
Author: Edmund S. Phelps
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
Total Pages: 243
Release: 1975-05-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1610446798

Presents a collection of papers by economists theorizing on the roles of altruism and morality versus self-interest in the shaping of human behavior and institutions. Specifically, the authors examine why some persons behave in an altruistic way without any apparent reward, thus defying the economist's model of utility maximization. The chapters are accompanied by commentaries from representatives of other disciplines, including law and philosophy.

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Economics

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Economics
Author: Harold Kincaid
Publisher: Oxford Handbooks Online
Total Pages: 689
Release: 2009-03-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0195189256

This volume is the first comprehensive, cohesive, and accessible reference source to the philosophy of economics, presenting important new scholarship by top scholars.

The Moral Foundation of Economic Behavior

The Moral Foundation of Economic Behavior
Author: David C. Rose
Publisher: OUP USA
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2011-11-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199781745

It then identifies specific characteristics that moral beliefs must have for the people who possess them to be regarded as trustworthy.

Butterfly Economics

Butterfly Economics
Author: Paul Ormerod
Publisher: Pantheon
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2012-05-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0307819418

Why did VHS, an inferior video recording technology, succeed in the marketplace, driving the superior Betamax out of business? Why do big-budget, acclaimed movies sometimes flop at the box office, while low-budget, idiosyncratic films become huge hits? The answers to these questions, says Paul Omerod, remind us that economics is a science based on the workings of human society, as unpredictable an entity as there is. "Conventional economics is mistaken," claimes Omerod, "when it views the economy as a machine, whose behavior, no matter how complicated, is ultimately predictable and controllable." In this cogently and elegantly argued analysis of why human beings persist in engaging in behavior that defies time-honored economic theory, Omerod also explains why governments and industries throughout the world must completely reconfigure their traditional methods of economic forecasting if they are to succeed and prosper in an increasingly global marketplace.

An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change

An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change
Author: Richard R. Nelson
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 456
Release: 1985-10-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780674041431

This book contains the most sustained and serious attack on mainstream, neoclassical economics in more than forty years. Nelson and Winter focus their critique on the basic question of how firms and industries change overtime. They marshal significant objections to the fundamental neoclassical assumptions of profit maximization and market equilibrium, which they find ineffective in the analysis of technological innovation and the dynamics of competition among firms. To replace these assumptions, they borrow from biology the concept of natural selection to construct a precise and detailed evolutionary theory of business behavior. They grant that films are motivated by profit and engage in search for ways of improving profits, but they do not consider them to be profit maximizing. Likewise, they emphasize the tendency for the more profitable firms to drive the less profitable ones out of business, but they do not focus their analysis on hypothetical states of industry equilibrium. The results of their new paradigm and analytical framework are impressive. Not only have they been able to develop more coherent and powerful models of competitive firm dynamics under conditions of growth and technological change, but their approach is compatible with findings in psychology and other social sciences. Finally, their work has important implications for welfare economics and for government policy toward industry.