Reflexivity in Economics [electronic resource] : An Experimental Examination on the Self-Referentiality of Economic Theories /
Sandri, Serena.author.
This study discusses the implications of the recursive or self-reflexive effects of economic theories on bounded rational behaviour and interaction. It focuses on the mechanisms through which bounded rational actors perceive the self-referential nature of economic theories and might absorb their prescriptions. As individuals think and are conscious of their thought, reflexivity is potentially involved in all human acts of cognition and in all conceptualizations. Further, the individuals can make use of social theories which can therefore yield recursive effects and interfere with the phenomena they aim to depict. Taking into consideration the bounded rationality of the individuals, this study investigates the modalities by means of which the recursive character of economic theorizing is perceived and the conditions under which economic theories affect behaviour, according to the results of two economic experiments focussing the absorbability of guessing-games' and informational cascades' theories.
Description based upon print version of record.
Includes bibliographical references.
Reflexivity and Self-Reference -- Reflexivity of Social Reality -- Reflexivity and Predictability of the Social Sciences -- On the Rationality of the Economic Actors -- Heuristics, Biases and Methods for Debiasing -- Self-Referentiality of Economic Theories and Theory Absorption -- On the Absorbability of Economic Theories - An Experimental Analysis.
This study discusses the implications of the recursive or self-reflexive effects of economic theories on bounded rational behaviour and interaction. It focuses on the mechanisms through which bounded rational actors perceive the self-referential nature of economic theories and might absorb their prescriptions. As individuals think and are conscious of their thought, reflexivity is potentially involved in all human acts of cognition and in all conceptualizations. Further, the individuals can make use of social theories which can therefore yield recursive effects and interfere with the phenomena they aim to depict. Taking into consideration the bounded rationality of the individuals, this study investigates the modalities by means of which the recursive character of economic theorizing is perceived and the conditions under which economic theories affect behaviour, according to the results of two economic experiments focussing the absorbability of guessing-games' and informational cascades' theories.
Economic theory.
Economic history.
Philosophy and science.
Philosophy and social sciences.
Economic Theory/Quantitative Economics/Mathematical Methods.
History of Economic Thought/Methodology.
Philosophy of Science.
Philosophy of the Social Sciences.
Contributions to Economics