In theoretical studies of social interactions, we hypothesize a process and seek to deduce the implied outcomes. In inferential studies, we face an inverse logical problem. Given observations of outcomes and maintained assumptions, we seek to deduce the actual process generating the...

Economics have long associated decision making wit optimization. The decision maker chooses an action from a known choice set C. he chosen action maximizes a known real-valued objective function F (.): C -- R. Optimization assumes enough knowledge of C and f(.) to determine an optimal action....