Economics Goes Behavioral

Author(s):  
Gilles Saint-Paul

This chapter focuses on behavioral economics. Most of the recent developments in behavioral economics converge with other social sciences in that they do away with the unitary individual. To date, behavioral economics is a catalogue of empirically documented psychological phenomena, each a particular deviation from the unitary view. These phenomena fall under several different headings, but their most salient aspect is that in many cases, many individuals are reinterpreted as having several “incarnations” rather than consisting of a unique self. No attempt is made to bring these phenomena together in a synthetic theory, nor to impose restrictions on their frequency in the population. Although the unitary view imposes restrictions on preferences, these only imply some general properties that these preferences must have in order to generate consistent behavior.

2013 ◽  
Vol 214 ◽  
pp. 255-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Holdaway

AbstractIn the context of this symposium, this article reviews social science research in the emerging field of environment and health in China, with a particular focus on the impacts of pollution. It begins with a discussion of the particular nature of China's environment-related health problems, distinguishing the different challenges presented by diseases of poverty, affluence and transition. It then reviews recent developments in policy and civil society with regard to environment and health, and the extent to which work in the social sciences has advanced our knowledge of these and of state–society interactions. The article concludes with some reflections on the need for and challenges of interdisciplinary and international collaboration in this area.


2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 1169-1192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin D. Hoover ◽  
Warren Young

The transcript of a panel discussion marking the 50th anniversary of John Muth's “Rational Expectations and the Theory of Price Movements” (Econometrica 1961). The panel consisted of Michael Lovell, Robert Lucas, Dale Mortensen, Robert Shiller, and Neil Wallace. The discussion was moderated by Kevin Hoover and Warren Young. The panel touched on a wide variety of issues related to the rational-expectations hypothesis, including its history, starting with Muth's work at Carnegie Tech; its methodological role; applications to policy; its relationship to behavioral economics; its role in the recent financial crisis; and its likely future.The panel discussion was held in a session sponsored by the History of Economics Society at the Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) meetings in the Capitol 1 Room of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Denver, Colorado.


2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ersin Göğüş ◽  
Ersin Göğüş ◽  
Ünal Ertan ◽  
Tomaso Belloni

Author(s):  
Elizabeth Bloxam ◽  
Ian Shaw

This chapter discusses a range of current debates into the ways in which Egyptologists are engaging with the problems and demands of moving towards greater collaborations across the social sciences if it is to remain a relevant discipline in its own right. Viewpoints from contributing authors are synthesized into a discussion of recent developments in the field from fresh research across both the archaeological and textual arms of the discipline. The volume considers the extent to which scholars need to be revising and re-thinking their research questions and moving towards greater collaborations within the discipline, and crucially outside of it. Moving the discipline forward is also about including voices outside of western discourses and into volumes such as this. The contributions from Chinese and Egyptian scholars therefore bring a fresh perspective to some current problems in Egyptological research particularly in cultural heritage management, museum curation, and investigating archaeological landscapes.


2019 ◽  
pp. 213-247
Author(s):  
Martín Krause

One of the main contributions of economics to the social sciences, expressed in the famous metaphor of the “invisible hand”, ended up being questioned by a good part of the economists. Based on the assumption of an individual maximizer of monetary utility, the social cooperation in which it con- sists failed, and it was not possible to expect it to succeed. However, recent developments in various areas have provided new elements in favor of its pos- sibility, its sustainability over time, and its extension to larger groups. In this work we will consider the recent contributions related to this topic in Game The- ory, Experimental Economics, Evolutionary Psychology and the analysis of his- torical cases that help to elucidate the theory and confirm its concepts. It will be considered how these areas of the social sciences have contributed with new elements to the understanding of social cooperation and voluntary actions. It concludes by stating that the invisible hand failure should, at least, be ques- tioned, and that there is still a large field to be developed in the analysis of these spontaneous orders, although there have been great contributions in recent decades. Keywords: Invisible hand, social cooperation, Game Theory, Experimental Eco- nomics, Evolutionary Psychology JEL classification: A12, C71, C92, D71, D91, H41 Resumen: Una de las principales contribuciones de la economía a las ciencias sociales, expresada en la famosa metáfora de la “mano invisible”, terminó siendo cuestionada por buena parte de los economistas. En base al supuesto de un individuo maximizador de utilidad monetaria, la cooperación social en que ésta consiste fracasaba, no era posible esperar que tuviera éxito. No obstante, recientes desarrollos en diversas áreas han brindado nuevos elemen- tos en favor de la misma, su posibilidad, su sostenibilidad en el tiempo, su extensión a grupos de mayor tamaño. En este trabajo consideraremos las con- tribuciones recientes relacionadas con este tema en Teoría de los Juegos, Economía Experimental, Psicología Evolutiva y el análisis de casos históricos que contribuyen a dilucidar la teoría y confirmar sus conceptos. Se considerará cómo estas áreas de las ciencias sociales aportan nuevos elementos para la comprensión de la cooperación social y las acciones voluntarias. Se concluye planteando que su fracaso debería, al menos, ser puesto en duda, y que hay un gran campo a desarrollar todavía en el análisis de esos órdenes espontá- neos, aunque ha habido grandes contribuciones en las últimas décadas. Palabras clave: Mano invisible, cooperación social, teoría de juegos, economía experimental, psicología evolutiva Clasificación JEL: A12, C71, C92, D71, D91, H41


Author(s):  
Pelin SÖNMEZ ◽  
Sinan AŞÇI

Security means the state of being free from danger, risk or threat. In social sciences, human security is an emerging paradigm shift concerning a person-centered, multi-disciplinary understanding of security involving a number of studies and human rights. According to Amartya Sen 2000 , “human security” is a keyword referring comprehensively everything free of the menaces that threaten the survival, daily lives, and dignity of individuals and to strengthening the efforts to confront these threats. On the other hand, “human insecurity” as a term stands for defining various situations where conflicts lead to perception of deprivation of some-kind, among certain people, in a given context Sirkeci, 2009 . Human insecurity affects migration movements in a way with the connection of 3Ds: namely democratic, development and demographic deficits. Accordingly, it is claimed that recent developments, the attempted coup on July 15, 2016 and the aftermath have made Turkey as a seemingly insecure place in reference to these 3Ds facilitating migration movements in and/or from the country. Sirkeci, 2017 According to the reports of Eurostat published in 2016, asylum applications filed by citizens of Turkey in European countries reached at 3779 in the third quarter comparing to the same quarter of 2015 at 985. After the attempted coup, this tendency seems on the rise, which actually signals us the fact that human insecurity perceptions among citizens. To evaluate this hypothesis, Twitter, as a public social media platform, based on the hashtags used by Turkish people, such as #avrupabirligi and #avrupabirliği in English “european ” was evaluated within the methodology content analysis.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mina Cikara

What is a group? How do we know to which groups we belong? How do we assign others to groups? A great deal of theorizing across the social sciences has conceptualized ‘groups’ as synonymous with ‘categories,’ however there are a number of limitations to this approach: particularly for making predictions about novel intergroup contexts or about how intergroup dynamics will change over time. Here I join a growing chorus of researchers striving to systematize the conditions under which a generalized coalitional psychology gets activated—the recognition of another’s capacity for and likelihood of coordination not only with oneself but with others. First I review some recent developments in the cognitive processes that give rise to the inference of coalitions and group-biased preferences (even in the absence of category labels). Then I review downstream consequences of inferences about capacity and likelihood of coordination for valuation, emotions, attribution, and inter-coalitional harm. Finally I review examples of how we can use these psychological levers to attenuate intergroup hostility.


Author(s):  
Armin W. Geertz

This article explores notions of primitivism through a critical examination of the implicit and explicit assumptions behind these notions against the background of recent developments in the philosophy of science. In the section on terms and definitions the empirical and theoretical problems involved in the use of these terms are raised. The section on primitivism and literacy explores the weaknes of the stance known as "The Great Divide" thesis. The problems associated with mentality and rationalism follow with recent criticisms from the philosophy of science and anthropology on the attempt to model the hunman and social sciences on the hard sciences, on the illusions of linguistic and other forms of exactitude in the natural sciences, on the mutual incompatibility of notions of rationalism used in the various sciences, and on the questionability of a too close encounter between the cultural sciences and philosophy. The section on tradition and change explores the role of the supposed dichotomy between the two in notions of primitivism and xplores the political and ethical problems involved i nthe historiography of exotic cultures. This leads to the section on the whole problem of the cultural construction of the Other and the role played by stereotypes in that construction. The article ends with a discussion of the formidable problems in intercultural communication with an appeal to Western scientists to be more reflective on and critidal of their own positions.


2004 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard K. Smith

Abstract: This article analyzes online publishing models used by scholarly journal publishers across Canada. The sample described here is illustrative not only of most of the current and recent approaches to online scholarly publishing, but also of recent developments that may influence the next generation of innovators. It is argued that despite the perception that digitization often serves only to increase the torrent of information, some Canadian publishers have developed online processes and practices that use information technology not just to increase the quantity of information, but also its quality. Online scholarly publishing is in a period of dramatic change and these initiatives will set the standard for knowledge sharing. Résumé : Cet article analyse des modèles d’édition en ligne utilisés partout au Canada par les éditeurs de revues savantes. L’échantillon décrit ici illustre non seulement la plupart des approches actuelles et récentes en édition savante en ligne mais aussi des développements récents qui pourraient influencer la prochaine génération d’innovateurs. L’article soutient que, malgré la perception que souvent la numérisation sert seulement à alimenter un torrent excessif d’informations, certains éditeurs canadiens ont développé des processus et des pratiques en ligne qui utilisent les technologies non seulement pour augmenter la quantité d’information mais aussi sa qualité. L’édition savante en ligne subit une période de changements dramatiques et ces initiatives établiront un modèle pour le partage des connaissance.


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