Sandri Reflexivity in Economics

An Experimental Examination on the Self-Referentiality of Economic Theories
2009
ISBN: 978-3-7908-2092-8
Verlag: Physica-Verlag HD
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 206 Seiten

Reihe: Contributions to Economics

Since the individuals are not just stimulus-response machines but more complex beings that think and are simultaneously conscious of their thought, re?exivity is potentially involved in all human acts of cognition and in all conceptualizations. On this basis, each human discourse can be characterized as a way of thought f- mulation and therefore, reveals a self-referring nature. On this level of re?exivity, the individual thought shapes beliefs and mental representations which give life to mental models and strive to predict future events and developments to support the individuals in their decision-making. Such mental models are re?ected by the - dividuals themselves and on the situation they are confronted with. According to the result of this recursive application, the individuals will then decide which model they want to refer to, or in other words, which model they want to absorb. Similarly, the individuals can make use of social theories and predictions which can therefore yield recursive effects and interfere with the phenomena they aim to depict. Revealed theories, if accepted, may in?uence the behaviour or the agents they focus on, either in the sense of validation of the theoretical content or in that of its rejection.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sandri, Serena

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Acknowledgments;6
2;Contents;7
3;Introduction;11
4;Reflexivity and Self-Reference;14
4.1;1.1 Definition;15
4.2;1.2 Reference Relations;17
4.2.1;1.2.1 Reflection;19
4.2.2;1.2.2 Universality;19
4.2.3;1.2.3 Ungroundedness;20
4.3;1.3 Varieties of Self-Reference;20
4.4;1.4 Taxonomies of Self-References;24
4.5;1.5 Self-Reference in Natural Language;25
4.6;1.6 Self-Reference in Formal Language;29
4.7;1.7 Logical Consistency of Self-Reference;30
4.7.1;1.7.1 Self-Reference and Paradoxes;31
4.7.2;1.7.2 Harmless and Harmful Self-Reference;33
4.8;1.8 Reflexivity in Human Understanding;34
4.9;1.9 Self-Reference in Social and Individual Decision-Making;35
5;Reflexivity of Social Reality;40
5.1;2.1 What is Social Reality?;41
5.2;2.2 Recursivity of the Social Reality;42
5.2.1;2.2.1 Reflexivity in Anthropology;43
5.2.2;2.2.2 Reflexivity in Linguistics;45
5.2.3;2.2.3 Reflexivity in Law;48
5.2.4;2.2.4 Reflexivity in Politics;49
5.2.5;2.2.5 Reflexivity in Sociology;50
5.2.6;2.2.6 Reflexivity in Psychology;51
5.2.7;2.2.7 Reflexivity of Economic Reality;53
6;Reflexivity and Predictability of the Social Sciences;61
6.1;3.1 Constructs and Reality;62
6.1.1;3.1.1 Observer, Observation and the Construct of the Self;65
6.1.2;3.1.2 A Constructivist Approach to the Cognitive Processes;67
6.1.3;3.1.3 Scientific Research and Reflexivity;70
6.1.4;3.1.4 Science as Language Game;73
6.1.5;3.1.5 Constructivism and Economics;74
6.2;3.2 Recursivity of Social Theorizing and Predictability of Social Reality;75
6.2.1;3.2.1 Social Predictions;76
6.2.2;3.2.2 Explaining and Predicting the Social Reality;77
6.2.3;3.2.3 Reflexive Predictions;80
7;On the Rationality of the Economic Actors;85
7.1;4.1 Questioning the Descriptive Validity of Rational Choice Theory;86
7.1.1;4.1.1 The Neoclassical Defence;87
7.1.2;4.1.2 Allais' Experiments;88
7.1.3;4.1.3 SimonÌs Bounded Rationality Approach;89
7.2;4.2 The Bounded Rational Revolution;90
7.2.1;4.2.1 Adaptive and Satisficing Behaviour;92
7.2.2;4.2.2 Principles of Problem-Solving;95
7.2.3;4.2.3 Problem-Solving in Games and Puzzles;97
7.3;4.3 Decomposing Rationality;99
7.3.1;4.3.1 Intuition and Reasoning;99
7.3.2;4.3.2 Accessibility;101
7.3.3;4.3.3 Framing Effects;104
7.3.4;4.3.4 Prospect Theory;105
8;Heuristics, Biases and Methods for Debiasing;109
8.1;5.1 Bounded Rational Heuristics;110
8.1.1;5.1.1 Building Blocks of Bounded Rational Heuristics;111
8.1.2;5.1.2 Main Features of Bounded Rational Heuristics;112
8.2;5.2 Heuristics and Biases;115
8.2.1;5.2.1 Representativeness Heuristic;115
8.2.2;5.2.2 Availability Heuristic;116
8.2.3;5.2.3 Adjustment and Anchoring;116
8.3;5.3 Debiasing;117
8.3.1;5.3.1 Debiasing the Representativeness Heuristics;120
8.3.2;5.3.2 Debiasing the Availability Heuristic;122
8.3.3;5.3.3 Debiasing Adjustment and Anchoring;122
8.4;5.4 Concluding Remarks on Debiasing and Some Implications for Theory Absorption;123
9;Self-Referentiality of Economic Theories and Theory Absorption;127
9.1;6.1 Economic Methodology;128
9.2;6.2 Self-Referentiality of Economic Theory and Theory Absorption;131
9.2.1;6.2.1 Self-Referential Theories;132
9.2.2;6.2.2 Introducing the Notion of Theory Absorption;133
9.2.3;6.2.3 Determinants of Theory Absorption;135
9.2.4;6.2.4 Some Theoretical Implications of Theory Absorption;136
9.3;6.3 Theory Absorption among Bounded Rational Decision- Makers;140
9.3.1;6.3.1 Individual Absorbability of Theories;141
9.3.2;6.3.2 Full Absorbability of Theories;143
9.3.3;6.3.3 Partial Absorbability of Theories;146
9.4;6.4 Applications of Theory Absorption to Economic Policy Advising;148
10;On the Absorbability of Economic Theories - An Experimental Analysis;152
10.1;7.1 The Experimental Method in Economics;153
10.2;7.2 A Possible Experimental Approach for Testing the Self- Referentiality and Absorbability of Economic Theories;154
10.3;7.3 Related Experimental Studies;157
10.4;7.4 Some Preparatory Attempts;159
10.4.1;7.4.1 An Experimental Attempt of Debiasing the Conjunction- Effect Bias through Meta- Information;159
10.4.2;7.4.2 A Classroom Experiment on Theory Absorption in Multilateral Integrative Negotiations;160
10.4.3;7.4.3 An Experimental Guessing-Game in the Classroom with Information Feed- Back and Meta- Instructions;161
10.5;7.5 On the Absorbability of Guessing Game Theory;162
10.5.1;7.5.1 On the Guessing Game;164
10.5.2;7.5.2 Iterated Elimination of Dominated Strategies in Guessing Games;166
10.5.3;7.5.3 The Experimental Design;167
10.5.4;7.5.4 Experimental Results;169
10.5.5;7.5.5 Conclusions;176
10.6;7.6 An Experimental Study on the Absorbability of Herd Behaviour and Informational Cascades Theories;178
10.6.1;7.6.1 Herding and Informational Cascades;178
10.6.2;7.6.2 A Simple Model of Informational Cascades: A Dichotomy Choice Model;180
10.6.3;7.6.3 Experimental Design;183
10.6.4;7.6.4 Results;184
10.6.5;7.6.5 Conclusions;188
10.7;7.7 Concluding Remarks on the Experimental Examination;189
11;Conclusion;190
12;Appendix;193
12.1;1 Instructions to the Experiment on the Absorbability of Guessing Game Theory;193
12.1.1;1.1 Example;193
12.1.2;1.2 Additional Tips;194
12.2;2 Instructions to the Experiment on the Absorbability of Informational CascadesÌ Theory;196
12.2.1;2.1 Additional Tips;197
13;Literature;200