Till Grüne-Yanoff
Biographic Data
| ID | 1023352 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Till Grüne-Yanoff |
| GIVEN NAMES | Till |
| FAMILY NAME | Grüne-Yanoff |
| SIGNATURE | GRÜNE-YANOFF T |
| AFFILIATIONS | KTH Royal Institute of Technology |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6727-8723 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 60 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Few and far between: A scoping review of the mechanistic evidence in empirical research on household energy-saving interventions
Varying effect sizes and inconsistent findings signal the need for a better understanding of the causal pathways through which interventions in the field of household energy saving operate. Hence, we conducted a scoping review of the mechanistic claims related to the observed effects of behavioural interventions in the domain. We reviewed the available publication pool to record and categorise the evidence used to support these claims and then ma…
Intending now or later: The rationality of constructed preferences
There is widespread agreement in the literature that preferences are often constructed up to the time of action. Sometimes, constructed preferences are also judged to be irrational. But why? And under what conditions? In this paper, I seek to answer these normative questions. I focus on the temporal distance between intention fixation and action as the normatively relevant feature of constructed preferences, rejecting the common focus on context-…
David M. Kreps, Arguing About Tastes
Everybody, even economists, concedes that people’s motivations change at least occasionally. Opinions sharply diverge, however, on whether this matters for economics as a social science. One group of naysayers, let’s call them “pragmatists”, argues that economics focuses on topics or decision horizons where motivational change—unless driven by changing information—has no relevance. Another group, the “reductionists”, claims that all such changes …
Multiple Routes to Progress in Model-Based Economics
This article examines whether characteristic modeling practices in economics lead to progress, that is, improved explanations and predictions. We question the widespread assumption that progress in modeling occurs solely through successive vertical refinements toward a single “best” model. Instead, we propose that progress can occur through multiple pathways. Specifically, we identify five distinct horizontal paths to progress: increased isolatio…
Understanding and how-possibly explanations: Why can’t they be friends
In the current debate on the relation between how-possibly explanations (HPEs) and understanding, two seemingly irreconcilable positions have emerged, which either deny or assert HPEs’ contribution to understanding. We argue, in contrast, that there is substantial room for reconciliation between these positions. First, we show that a shared assumption is unfounded: HPEs can be interpreted as being correct explanations. Second, we argue that what …
Boosts are not Educative or System-2 Nudges
Boosts seek to expand people’s competences with the purpose of improving their judgments and decisions. They have sometimes been identified with educative or system-2 nudges. This implies that boosts are slow and effortful, and therefore not as efficient or effective as other behavioral interventions. In this paper, I reject their identification with educative and system-2 nudges. In particular, I explain what it means that boost expand competenc…
The relevance of mechanisms and mechanistic knowledge for behavioural interventions: The case of household energy consumption
We argue that behavioural public policies (BPP) should be categorized by the kind of mechanism through which they operate, not by the kind of treatment they implement. Reviewing the energy consumption BPP literature, we argue (i) that BPPs are currently categorized by treatment; (ii) that treatment-based categories are subject to mechanistic heterogeneity : there is substantial variation of mechanisms within each treatment type; and (iii) that th…
It's time we put agency into Behavioural Public Policy
Promoting agency – people's ability to form intentions and to act on them freely – must become a primary objective for Behavioural Public Policy (BPP). Contemporary BPPs do not directly pursue this objective, which is problematic for many reasons. From an ethical perspective, goals like personal autonomy and individual freedom cannot be realised without nurturing citizens’ agency. From an efficacy standpoint, BPPs that override agency – for examp…
Epistemic and Objective Possibility in Science
Boosting vs. nudging sustainable energy consumption: A long-term comparative field test in a residential context
Boosts and nudges are two separate types of behavioral public policies, distinguished by the mechanisms through which they operate. We investigated whether this theoretical distinction translates into different effects when instances of these policy types are implemented in the context of energy consumption. In a long-term field randomized controlled trial, we competitively tested boosts against nudges. We found that boosts outperform nudges thro…
Introduction to the synthese topical collection ‘modal modeling in science: Modal epistemology meets philosophy of science’
Choosing the right model for policy decision-making: The case of smallpox epidemiology
Policymakers increasingly draw on scientific methods, including simulation modeling, to justify their decisions. For these purposes, scientists and policymakers face an extensive choice of modeling strategies. Discussing the example of smallpox epidemiology, this paper distinguishes three types of strategies: Massive Simulation Models (MSMs), Abstract Simulation Models (ASMs) and Macro Equation Models (MEMs). By analyzing some of the main smallpo…
Justifying method choice: A heuristic-instrumentalist account of scientific methodology
Scientific methods are heuristic in nature. Heuristics are simplifying, incomplete, underdetermined and fallible problem-solving rules that can nevertheless serve certain goals in certain contexts better than truth-preserving algorithms. Because of their goal- and context-dependence, a framework is needed for systematic choosing between them. This is the domain of scientific methodology. Such a methodology, I argue, relies on a form of instrument…
The epistemology of modal modeling
Philosophers of science have recently taken care to highlight different modeling practices where scientific models primarily contribute modal information, in the form of for example possibility claims, how-possibly explanations, or counterfactual conditionals. While examples abound, comparatively little attention is being paid to the question of under what conditions, and in virtue of what, models can perform this epistemic function. In this pape…
Nudging and Boosting: Steering or Empowering Good Decisions
In recent years, policy makers worldwide have begun to acknowledge the potential value of insights from psychology and behavioral economics into how people make decisions. These insights can inform the design of nonregulatory and nonmonetary policy interventions—as well as more traditional fiscal and coercive measures. To date, much of the discussion of behaviorally informed approaches has emphasized “nudges,” that is, interventions designed to s…
Reflections on the 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize Awarded to Richard Thaler
The 2017 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded to Richard H. Thaler “for his contributions to behavioural economics”. Till Grüne-Yanoff reflects on Thaler’s work
Nudge Versus Boost: How Coherent are Policy and Theory?
Models of Temporal Discounting 1937-2000: An Interdisciplinary Exchange between Economics and Psychology
ArgumentToday's models of temporal discounting are the result of multiple interdisciplinary exchanges between psychology and economics. Although these exchanges did not result in an integrated discipline, they had important effects on all disciplines involved. The paper describes these exchanges from the 1930s onwards, focusing on two episodes in particular: an attempted synthesis by psychiatrist George Ainslie and others in the 1970s; and the at…
Introduction: Interdisciplinary model exchanges
Preference change and conservatism: Comparing the Bayesian and the AGM models of preference revision
Appraising Models Nonrepresentationally
Many scientific models lack an established representation relation to actual targets and instead refer to merely possible processes, background conditions, and results. This article shows how such models can be appraised. On the basis of the discussion of how-possibly explanations, five types of learning opportunities are distinguished. For each of these types, an example—from economics, biology, psychology, and sociology—is discussed. Contexts a…
Old wine in new casks: Libertarian paternalism still violates liberal principles
Paradoxes of Rational Choice Theory
Models as products of interdisciplinary exchange: Evidence from evolutionary game theory
Preference Change
Appraising Models Nonrepresentationally
Many scientific models lack an established representation relation to actual targets and instead refer to merely possible processes, background conditions, and results. This article shows how such models can be appraised. On the basis of the discussion of how-possibly explanations, five types of learning opportunities are distinguished. For each of these types, an example—from economics, biology, psychology, and sociology—is discussed. Contexts a…
The epistemology of modal modeling
Philosophers of science have recently taken care to highlight different modeling practices where scientific models primarily contribute modal information, in the form of for example possibility claims, how-possibly explanations, or counterfactual conditionals. While examples abound, comparatively little attention is being paid to the question of under what conditions, and in virtue of what, models can perform this epistemic function. In this pape…
Models as products of interdisciplinary exchange: Evidence from evolutionary game theory
Introduction: Interdisciplinary model exchanges
It's time we put agency into Behavioural Public Policy
Promoting agency – people's ability to form intentions and to act on them freely – must become a primary objective for Behavioural Public Policy (BPP). Contemporary BPPs do not directly pursue this objective, which is problematic for many reasons. From an ethical perspective, goals like personal autonomy and individual freedom cannot be realised without nurturing citizens’ agency. From an efficacy standpoint, BPPs that override agency – for examp…
Boosting vs. nudging sustainable energy consumption: A long-term comparative field test in a residential context
Boosts and nudges are two separate types of behavioral public policies, distinguished by the mechanisms through which they operate. We investigated whether this theoretical distinction translates into different effects when instances of these policy types are implemented in the context of energy consumption. In a long-term field randomized controlled trial, we competitively tested boosts against nudges. We found that boosts outperform nudges thro…
The explanatory potential of artificial societies
Bounded Rationality
The notion of bounded rationality has recently gained considerable popularity in the behavioural and social sciences. This article surveys the different usages of the term, in particular the way 'anomalosus' behavioural phenomena are elicited, how these phenomena are incorporated in model building, and what sort of new theories of behaviour have been developed to account for bounded rationality in choice and in deliberation. It also discusses the…
Models of Temporal Discounting 1937-2000: An Interdisciplinary Exchange between Economics and Psychology
ArgumentToday's models of temporal discounting are the result of multiple interdisciplinary exchanges between psychology and economics. Although these exchanges did not result in an integrated discipline, they had important effects on all disciplines involved. The paper describes these exchanges from the 1930s onwards, focusing on two episodes in particular: an attempted synthesis by psychiatrist George Ainslie and others in the 1970s; and the at…
Epistemic and Objective Possibility in Science
Justifying method choice: A heuristic-instrumentalist account of scientific methodology
Scientific methods are heuristic in nature. Heuristics are simplifying, incomplete, underdetermined and fallible problem-solving rules that can nevertheless serve certain goals in certain contexts better than truth-preserving algorithms. Because of their goal- and context-dependence, a framework is needed for systematic choosing between them. This is the domain of scientific methodology. Such a methodology, I argue, relies on a form of instrument…
Choosing the right model for policy decision-making: The case of smallpox epidemiology
Policymakers increasingly draw on scientific methods, including simulation modeling, to justify their decisions. For these purposes, scientists and policymakers face an extensive choice of modeling strategies. Discussing the example of smallpox epidemiology, this paper distinguishes three types of strategies: Massive Simulation Models (MSMs), Abstract Simulation Models (ASMs) and Macro Equation Models (MEMs). By analyzing some of the main smallpo…
Bounded Rationality
The notion of bounded rationality has recently gained considerable popularity in the behavioural and social sciences. This article surveys the different usages of the term, in particular the way 'anomalosus' behavioural phenomena are elicited, how these phenomena are incorporated in model building, and what sort of new theories of behaviour have been developed to account for bounded rationality in choice and in deliberation. It also discusses the…
Action Explanations Are Not Inherently Normative
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.” Hamlet , act II, scene ii Abstract: Inherent normativity is the claim that intentional action explanations necessarily have to comply with normatively understood rationality constraints on the ascribed propositional attitudes. This paper argues against inherent normativity in three steps. First, it presents three examples of actions successfully explained with propositional attitudes, where the …
Preference Change
Preference Change: Approaches from Philosophy, Economics and Psychology
The explanatory potential of artificial societies
Models as products of interdisciplinary exchange: Evidence from evolutionary game theory
Old wine in new casks: Libertarian paternalism still violates liberal principles
Paradoxes of Rational Choice Theory
Preference change and conservatism: Comparing the Bayesian and the AGM models of preference revision
Appraising Models Nonrepresentationally
Many scientific models lack an established representation relation to actual targets and instead refer to merely possible processes, background conditions, and results. This article shows how such models can be appraised. On the basis of the discussion of how-possibly explanations, five types of learning opportunities are distinguished. For each of these types, an example—from economics, biology, psychology, and sociology—is discussed. Contexts a…
Introduction: Interdisciplinary model exchanges
Models of Temporal Discounting 1937-2000: An Interdisciplinary Exchange between Economics and Psychology
ArgumentToday's models of temporal discounting are the result of multiple interdisciplinary exchanges between psychology and economics. Although these exchanges did not result in an integrated discipline, they had important effects on all disciplines involved. The paper describes these exchanges from the 1930s onwards, focusing on two episodes in particular: an attempted synthesis by psychiatrist George Ainslie and others in the 1970s; and the at…
Nudge Versus Boost: How Coherent are Policy and Theory?
Nudging and Boosting: Steering or Empowering Good Decisions
In recent years, policy makers worldwide have begun to acknowledge the potential value of insights from psychology and behavioral economics into how people make decisions. These insights can inform the design of nonregulatory and nonmonetary policy interventions—as well as more traditional fiscal and coercive measures. To date, much of the discussion of behaviorally informed approaches has emphasized “nudges,” that is, interventions designed to s…
Reflections on the 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize Awarded to Richard Thaler
The 2017 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded to Richard H. Thaler “for his contributions to behavioural economics”. Till Grüne-Yanoff reflects on Thaler’s work
Choosing the right model for policy decision-making: The case of smallpox epidemiology
Policymakers increasingly draw on scientific methods, including simulation modeling, to justify their decisions. For these purposes, scientists and policymakers face an extensive choice of modeling strategies. Discussing the example of smallpox epidemiology, this paper distinguishes three types of strategies: Massive Simulation Models (MSMs), Abstract Simulation Models (ASMs) and Macro Equation Models (MEMs). By analyzing some of the main smallpo…
Justifying method choice: A heuristic-instrumentalist account of scientific methodology
Scientific methods are heuristic in nature. Heuristics are simplifying, incomplete, underdetermined and fallible problem-solving rules that can nevertheless serve certain goals in certain contexts better than truth-preserving algorithms. Because of their goal- and context-dependence, a framework is needed for systematic choosing between them. This is the domain of scientific methodology. Such a methodology, I argue, relies on a form of instrument…
The epistemology of modal modeling
Philosophers of science have recently taken care to highlight different modeling practices where scientific models primarily contribute modal information, in the form of for example possibility claims, how-possibly explanations, or counterfactual conditionals. While examples abound, comparatively little attention is being paid to the question of under what conditions, and in virtue of what, models can perform this epistemic function. In this pape…
Boosting vs. nudging sustainable energy consumption: A long-term comparative field test in a residential context
Boosts and nudges are two separate types of behavioral public policies, distinguished by the mechanisms through which they operate. We investigated whether this theoretical distinction translates into different effects when instances of these policy types are implemented in the context of energy consumption. In a long-term field randomized controlled trial, we competitively tested boosts against nudges. We found that boosts outperform nudges thro…
Introduction to the synthese topical collection ‘modal modeling in science: Modal epistemology meets philosophy of science’
The relevance of mechanisms and mechanistic knowledge for behavioural interventions: The case of household energy consumption
We argue that behavioural public policies (BPP) should be categorized by the kind of mechanism through which they operate, not by the kind of treatment they implement. Reviewing the energy consumption BPP literature, we argue (i) that BPPs are currently categorized by treatment; (ii) that treatment-based categories are subject to mechanistic heterogeneity : there is substantial variation of mechanisms within each treatment type; and (iii) that th…
It's time we put agency into Behavioural Public Policy
Promoting agency – people's ability to form intentions and to act on them freely – must become a primary objective for Behavioural Public Policy (BPP). Contemporary BPPs do not directly pursue this objective, which is problematic for many reasons. From an ethical perspective, goals like personal autonomy and individual freedom cannot be realised without nurturing citizens’ agency. From an efficacy standpoint, BPPs that override agency – for examp…
Epistemic and Objective Possibility in Science
Few and far between: A scoping review of the mechanistic evidence in empirical research on household energy-saving interventions
Varying effect sizes and inconsistent findings signal the need for a better understanding of the causal pathways through which interventions in the field of household energy saving operate. Hence, we conducted a scoping review of the mechanistic claims related to the observed effects of behavioural interventions in the domain. We reviewed the available publication pool to record and categorise the evidence used to support these claims and then ma…
Intending now or later: The rationality of constructed preferences
There is widespread agreement in the literature that preferences are often constructed up to the time of action. Sometimes, constructed preferences are also judged to be irrational. But why? And under what conditions? In this paper, I seek to answer these normative questions. I focus on the temporal distance between intention fixation and action as the normatively relevant feature of constructed preferences, rejecting the common focus on context-…
Epistemology (21 works) · Philosophy (17 works) · Economics (16 works) · Psychology (15 works) · Computer Science (13 works) · Philosophy and History of Science (9 works) · Philosophy of science (9 works) · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics (8 works) · Political science (8 works) · Positive economics (7 works)