Behavioral Economics and the Atheoretical Style

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Spiegler, Ran
• 署名单位: Tel Aviv University; University of London; University College London
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MICROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7669
• DOI: 10.1257/mic.20170007
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 173-194
• 关键词: information; myopia

摘要

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.