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on Neuroeconomics |
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Issue of 2011‒03‒19
four papers chosen by |
| By: | Schilirò, Daniele |
| Abstract: | The essay analyzes the decision process in economics and its relationship with the concept of rationality starting from the theory of rational choice, that is, a systemic approach based on the formal axiomatic method applied mainly in the microeconomic field, which has become the heart of neoclassical economics. The work also focuses on the important contribution of the cognitive economics to the concept of rationality and, consequently, of criticism that this theoretical approach moves to the standard economic theory in the definition of choices, indicating a systematic discrepancy between theory and empirical evidence. Moreover, the analysis puts forward the topic of rational expectations, as the rationality of expectations concerns the preferences, and also because the hypothesis of rational expectations has characterized the development of modern macroeconomics and influenced the issue of the efficient use of information by the economic agents. This work wants to highlight, using a very little formal language, the complexity of the choice process and the unsolved relationship between economic and psychological dimensions of such a process, but at the same time it wants to argue that the economic theory as a whole is far away today from an abstract conception perfectly rational and fully informed individuals which choose without making mistakes. |
| Keywords: | decisione; razionalità; incertezza; aspettative |
| JEL: | D84 D01 |
| Date: | 2011–03–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:29477&r=neu |
| By: | H. Eika, Kari (Ministry of Health and Care Services) |
| Abstract: | This experimental study asks whether generosity decreases emotional distance, a question pertinent to human service quality. Highly vulnerable service recipients may not enforce quality standards. Quality can then be viewed as an act of generosity, a gift from the provider to the recipient. For a human service provider that sympathizes with the recipient, delivering poor quality is psychologically costly. To reduce this cost she may increase emotional distance. Since human service quality presupposes social interaction and involvement, quality is reduced further. The mechanism – which can account for vicious and virtuous circles in the provision of quality – is explored in a binary dictator game where the recipients pay-off is uncertain. The dictator decides whether to know the recipients pay-off and how. Subjects are more eager to inquire about their recipients pay-off when they themselves have been generous, and to do so by contacting the recipient when the recipient correctly perceives that action to be kind. |
| Keywords: | human services; emotional distance; cognitive dissonance; generosity; dictator game |
| JEL: | C90 D23 D64 I11 I21 |
| Date: | 2010–07–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2011_006&r=neu |
| By: | Stenberg, Anders (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | The classical twin model has often been used to determine whether variation in outcomes such IQ, schooling and other behavioral traits, originate from genetic endowments or environmental factors. Despite some heavy criticism from prominent scholars, the model has recently reappeared in highly ranked economics journals to perhaps spark off a revival of the method. This article seeks to specify the assumptions which generate the apparently profound divide in viewpoints. A general problem is that most authors do not properly discuss the underlying assumptions of the twin model. It has partly led to a disarray of thoughts, concrete examples are provided, since the interpretation of the results and the risk for misleading interpretations are not spelled out. Therefore, perhaps surprisingly, a brief account of the theories behind the main assumptions of the twin model provides a useful contribution. |
| Keywords: | genes; environments |
| JEL: | H50 J62 |
| Date: | 2011–03–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2011_004&r=neu |
| By: | Rowena Pecchenino (Department of Economics Finance and Accounting, National University of Ireland, Maynooth); |
| Abstract: | Hope plays an important role in all individuals’ lives both today and in the future. While hope and hopelessness are important concepts and the subjects of much theorizing in psychology, theology, philosophy, political science, nursing, as well as in literature and the arts, it is absent from economics. This silence on hope is notable since hope is fundamentally at the centre of choice, especially intertemporal choice, which is at the centre of economic analysis. To place hope at the centre of intertemporal choice, it is important to clearly define what hope is and what it is not. What hope is not is constant. Hope is not optimism; hope is not unfounded dreams divorced from reality; hope is not irrational. I distil what hope is from its characterization in a number of different disciplines. A comparison of characterizations identifies a number of commonalities and common definitions. Using the derived set of definitions, I incorporate hope into economic analysis, consider what implications hope has for the modelling of choice and for economic behaviour, and discuss whether hope is implicitly imbedded in or has been abandoned, to our eternal cost, by economics. |
| Keywords: | Hope, rational choice, goal orientation, expectations, faith |
| JEL: | B40 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:may:mayecw:n217-11.pdf&r=neu |