Back to Search
Start Over
Behavioral Economics and the Atheoretical Style
- Source :
- American Economic Journal: Microeconomics. 11:173-194
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- American Economic Association, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Behavioral economics is widely perceived to be part of the profession's shift away from a culture that places abstract theory at its center. I present a critical discussion of the atheoretical style with which "behavioral" themes are often disseminated: a purely anecdotal style in popular expositions, simplistic cost-benefit modeling in pieces that target a wide audience of academic economists, and the practice of capturing psychological forces by distorting familiar functional forms. I argue that the subject of "psychology and economics" is intrinsically foundational, and that a heavier dose of abstract theorizing is essential for it to realize its transformative potential.
- Subjects :
- 050208 finance
Applied economics
05 social sciences
Subject (philosophy)
Behavioral economics
Abstract theory
Style (sociolinguistics)
Critical discussion
Epistemology
Transformative learning
0502 economics and business
050207 economics
Psychology
General Economics, Econometrics and Finance
Social psychology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19457685 and 19457669
- Volume :
- 11
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........4a9b62e8973190ea9d695988d6622f97