Gerald Cory's book entitled Delusions of Economics and the Way Forward not only summarizes a lifetime of his research but adds significantly to that body. Cory's research focuses on the human brain, in particular its physiology, evolution, and implications for human behavior. His research also...

The nudge concept developed by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein has turned out to be a very important one. The paper begins by considering the basic elements of the nudge concept as well as the philosophy of libertarian paternalism; it also considers later nudge writings, notably those by...

The purpose of this paper is to explain the main social and economic facts concerning obesity in a way that substantially improves upon existing economic theory. In contrast to existing theory, a number of recent health science writers have explained persuasively that weight gain or loss is not...

In explaining individual happiness, economists have largely emphasized the hedonic, utilitarian, material, and tangible aspects of a person’s life. Another important explanation which owes much to Aristotle’s thought emphasizes the eudaimonic, the realization of a person’s inherent...

The principal reason why economists have advocated environmental policies based on incentives is that their conception of business behavior derives from the neoclassical model of the firm. Businesses certainly do respond to profit incentives, but firms' behavior is also greatly influenced by...

This paper is concerned with defining the characteristics of behavioral economics (BE), identifying the different strands of BE, and carefully comparing BE to mainstream or orthodox economics. An important question here is: Is BE an economic school of thought? It is noteworthy that BE is not...

In explaining individual happiness, economists have largely emphasized the hedonic, utilitarian, material, and tangible aspects of a person’s life. Another important explanation which owes much to Aristotle’s thought emphasizes the eudaimonic, the realization of a person’s inherent...

There's a growing sense that the human actor in economics is not portrayed well by the economic man stereotype (econ man) nor by the irrational, error-plagued person who is the stereotype (psych econ man) deriving from psychological economics. The purpose of this chapter is first to explain...

Despite increasing research efforts, there remains much confusion regarding the nature of and contribution of the most intangible forms of capital. This paper develops a comprehensive and unifying conception of intangible capital in order to understand its contribution to economic growth....

When mentioning the sources of an economy's productivity, economists' list typically includes tangible capital and human capital, at least standard human capital, the kind largely associated with education and training. But economists do not usually mention the more intangible forms of human...