The emerging discipline of cognitive science represents a revolution in our understanding of cognition, but modern economics has largely left unnoticed developments in this area. This workshop brought together economists who study the cognitive aspects of economic processes and cognitive science researchers. There was no formal program of talks, but informal discussions on topics of interest were arranged as the workshop progressed. In the best SFI tradition, the program was self-organizing. First is the nature of social reality.
Economic models treat two kinds of learning activities, distinguished by the subject being learned.
In the second, the subject being learned is a social construct, a consequence of the learning activity and decisions based on learned knowledge. Everyone learns certain recognizable pieces of paper have value and is willing to accept the paper in return for the provision of goods and services. But these pieces of paper have value only because everyone is willing to accept them. A hyperinflation is the unwinding of this common understanding. Another example is financial asset prices.