Choosing the Right Pond: Human Behavior and the Quest for Status (original) (raw)
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1997
A study of supply, demand, and price determination in the context of consumer preferences and theory of the firm across a spectrum of market types, from competitive through monopolistic. The role of utility and profits in consumer and firm behavior, as well as risk aversion and duality of costs and production functions are introduced. The effects of market intrusions like taxes, subsidies and other interventions, are also illustrated.
ECONOMICS EDUCATION AND THE THEORY OF CONSUMER CHOICE, EXCERPTS FROM ECONOMICS TEXTBOOK MATERIALS.
International Journal of Advanced Research (IJAR), 2019
Curtis Jr (2017) describes the objective of the university course, to convey intermediate and advanced concepts of consumer choice theory to students using explanatory, graphical and mathematical methods of analysis. The only prerequisite for this course is successful completion of Calculus, Principles of Microeconomics ?, or equivalent. After completing the requirements in this course, students should have a sufficient set of skills to thoroughly analyze interesting economic questions and to effectively participate in (i) advanced undergraduate economics courses, (ii) core graduate economic theory courses, and (iii) graduate courses in the school of business, including MBA programs. The emphasis of this paper is that economics is the study of the efficient choices made by individuals, including consumers, workers, owners of firms and social planners ? Policy writers, students and wealthy philanthropists reading this paper might conclude that corporate board members, and higher education endowment strategists and budget executives, should focus on and enhance the effectiveness of the individual, conditional on the capacity and constraints, whether they are innate, financial or political.
2011
Companion f o Economics and Philosophy, Edward Elgar (2004), 509+xxii pp., ISBN I-84064-964-x reviewed by Till Griine-Yanoff, Royal Institute of Technology, Dept of Philosophy and the History of Technology, Stockholm DESPITE ITS TITLE, this Companion contains little economics. Rather, it presents topics from the philosophy of economics. The title may still be appropriate, as the philosophy of economics addresses many issues that should be of great interest and importance to economists. However, many authors of this volume seem to understand their project as opposed to economics (or rather, what they call 'mainstream' economics). This is unfortunate. Philosophy of economics is dependent on the science that it purports to be of. It discusses economics' specific epistemic, conceptual and normative problems, and intends to contribute to their solution or at least clarification. Naturally, such a project requires a critical perspective. But it must be friendly criticism. If philosophers reject the core of contemporary economics, and 'seek to re-orientate the economics discipline' as a whole (Lawson in this volume, 322), they will be confined to a state of irrelevance: ignored by economists busy building their science, but unable to produce a serious alternative themselves. Nevertheless, the Companion includes many highly informative and at times provocative papers on important philosophical questions about economics. It contains twenty-three papers, categorized into three parts concerning political economy, methodology and ontology. The political economy part discusses the use of economic tools for the end of political philosophy, namely to understand and justify social order. Two papers from this part challenge contemporary economic theory to live up to this task. Hargreaves Heap points out that the rational choice model only provides incomplete explanations of institution formation. Coordination games used for this purpose typically have multiple Nash equilibria, and selecting the one that will or should be played requires reference to factors that are outside of the standard model. In particular, Hargreaves Heap argues, reference to convention alone is not enough: what motivates people to select one equilibrium is not only dictated by what they think what others will do (in accord with historical precedent), but what they
The Philosophy of Economic Behavior
Philosophy of Economic Behavior, 2019
Economics aims for greater accuracy in its models and predictions. The human being aims a complete satisfaction of his unlimited desires. How to find the profitable equilibrium of this relationship? This is the question that the Philosophy of Economic Behavior aims to respond, having as focus the homo oeconomicus of flesh and blood with his singular characteristic of “quasi rational” decision-maker, however influenced by emotion. Thinking of the homo oeconomicus from his point of view as an individual in the world, despite all the influences he suffers from being in the world. The purpose of the research was that of defining the point of departure, the very beginning of something that unfolds itself as the questions arise. The possibilities of approach are as much as they allow the act of questioning. After all, philosophizing is always keeping the old themes alive with brand new questions.
Syllabus Philosophy of Economics (BA Course, University of Zurich 2018)
Course description Economics is a fascinating and multi-faceted science, philosophically significant to issues as diverse as the nature of rationality, scientific methodology, the fact/value distinction, etc. This course introduces students to the main debates at the interface between economics and philosophy of science. We will review a selection of writings by both, economists and philosophers on the status of economics as a science, its goals, and its methods. Topics of discussion comprise explanation in economics, the existence of laws in economics, the usefulness of economic models, the ethical dimension of economics, and the relation between economics and the natural sciences, among others. Learning goals By the end of the course, students should be (1) familiar with some of the core debates in philosophy of economics; (2) able to reconstruct the main concepts and positions in the debates; (3) able to discuss concepts and positions critically and in depth; (4) able to articulate your own positions verbally and in written form.