We examine, experimentally and theoretically, how communication within a partnership may mitigate the problem (highlighted in contract theory) of hidden action. What is the form and content of the communication? Which model of decision-making can capture the impact of communication? We consider...

Experimental economists believe (and enforce) that researchers should not employ deception in the design of experiments. The rule exists in order to protect a public good: the ability of other researchers to conduct experiments and have participants trust their instructions to be an accurate...

We conduct a two-phase laboratory experiment, separated by several weeks. In the first phase, we conduct urn games intended to measure ambiguity aversion on a representative population of undergraduate students. In the second phase, we invite the students back with four different solicitation...

This essay reviews new histories of the role of game theory and rational decision-making in shaping the social sciences, economics among them, in the post war period. The recent books The World the Game Theorists Made by Paul Erickson and How Reason Almost Lost Its Mind by Paul Erickson, Judy...

Jon Elster gehört zu den profiliertesten Sozialwissenschaftlern der internationalen‚scientific community’. Der vorliegende Beitrag entwickelt eine Lesart für sein bisher vorliegendes Gesamtwerk: In einem ersten Schritt wird Elsters Kritik an funktionalistischen Fehlschlüssen in den...

Does Rational Choice Theory (RCT) have something important to contribute to the humanities? Jon Elster and others answer affirmatively, arguing that RCT is a powerful tool that will lend clarity and rigor to work in the humanities just as it (presumably) has in economics. This essay examines the...

Recently, the positive theory of rational choice has come under attack from experimental psychologists and economists. Their experimental results, gathered together under the banner of behavioral analysis, show that the maximizing model of rational choice often does not provide a very accurate...

2016 jährte sich das Erscheinen des Artikels von John Maurice Clark mit dem in der Überschrift genannten Titel im Journal of Political Economy zum hundertsten Mal. Clark legt in diesem Artikel seine Vorstellungen zur Entwicklung einer "economics of responsibility" und zur Wahrnehmung von...

2016 jährte sich das Erscheinen des Artikels von John Maurice Clark mit dem in der Überschrift genannten Titel im Journal of Political Economy zum hundertsten Mal. Clark legt in diesem Artikel seine Vorstellungen zur Entwicklung einer "economics of responsibility" und zur Wahrnehmung von...