Why We Need to Talk About Preferences
Economic Experiments and the Where-Question
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21461645 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lukas Beck (0000-0001-6364-2332, University of Cambridge, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 89 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1435-1455 |
| Publication date | 2024-04-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Erkenntnis (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0165-0106 • E-ISSN: 1572-8420 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10670-022-00590-2 |
| OpenAlex | W4288708942 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 47 |
When economists perform experiments, they do so typically in one of two traditions: cognitive psychology experiments in the heuristics and biases tradition (H&B-experiments) and experimental economics in the tradition of Vernon Smith. What sets these two traditions apart? In this paper, I offer a novel conceptualization of their pervasive disagreements. Focusing on how each camp approaches preferences, one of the most fundamental concepts in economics, I argue that experimental economics can be reconstructed as holding that the constituents of preferences can be partially located in agents’ environments, while H&B-experiments implicitly assume that the constituents of preferences are entirely located within agents’ bodies. The paper (i) outlines how my reconstruction can account for the disagreement between the two paradigms, (ii) defends the plausibility of this reconstruction, and (iii) highlights its implications for the debate about the nature of preferences in economics
Behavioral economics · Cognition · Conceptualization · Economics · Epistemology · Experimental economics · Heuristics · Mathematical economics · Microeconomics · Ontology · Positive economics · Sociology · Computer Science · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Economic Theory and Institutions · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence
A Defence of Informed Preference Satisfaction Theories of Welfare
The Specter of Revealed Preference Theory
Social phenomena as a challenge to the scaling-up problem
Standard rationality versus inclusive rationality
Two approaches to naturalistic social ontology
Endogenous preferences, environmental economics, and welfare
"Coherent Arbitrariness"
Elimination by aspects
A perspective on psychology and economics
Constructivist and Ecological Rationality in Economics
II—Criticism and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes
Identifying Social Norms Using Coordination Games: Why Does Dictator Game Sharing Vary?
Intransitivity of preferences.
The Extended Mind
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Extended Mind
Rational Choice and Social Theory
In defence of revealed preference theory
The Affect Heuristic
Social norms or social preferences
The role of psychology in behavioral economics
What Preferences Really Are
Preferences and Positivist Methodology in Economics
Social Preferences in Experimental Economics
Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory
Experimental Economics From the Vantage‐point of Behavioural Economics
A Theory of Fairness, Competition, and Cooperation
Finkish Dispositions
Economics in the Laboratory
Spatial Models of Party Competition
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |