Showing papers on "Rationality published in 1992"

Evolution and Rationality Some Recent Game-Theoretic Results. Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects

Abstract: We investigate conditions sufficient for identification of average treatment effects using instrumental variables. First we show that the existence of valid instruments is not sufficient to identify any meaningful average treatment effect. We then establish that the combination of an instrument and a condition on the relation between the instrument and the participation status is sufficient for identification of a local average treatment effect for those who can be induced to change their participation status by changing the value of the instrument. Finally we derive the probability limit of the standard IV estimator under these conditions. It is seen to be a weighted average of local average treatment effects.

Strategic decision making

Abstract: This article reviews the strategic decision making literature by focusing on the dominant paradigms–i.e., rationality and bounded rationality, politics and power, and garbage can. We review the theory and key empirical support, and identify emergent debates within each paradigm. We conclude that strategic decision makers are boundedly rational, that power wins battles of choice, and that chance matters. Further, we argue that these paradigms rest on unrealistic assumptions and tired controversies which are no longer very controversial. We conclude with a research agenda that emphasizes a more realistic view of strategic decision makers and decision making, and greater attention to normative implications, especially among profit-seeking firms in global contexts.

The inexact and separate science of economics

Abstract: List of figures Introduction Part I. Introduction, Structure and Strategy: 1. Rationality and utility theory 2. Demand and consumer choice 3. The theory of the firm and general equilibrium 4. Equilibrium theory and economic welfare 5. Models and theories in economics 6. The structure and strategy of economics 7. Overlapping generations: a case study Part II. Theory Assessment: 8. Inexactness in economic theory 9. Methodological revolution 10. Karl Popper and falsificationism in economics 11. Imre Lakatos and economic methodology 12. Economics as an inexact and separate science 13. On dogmatism in economics: the case of preference reversals Part III. Conclusion: 14. Economic methodology 15 Conclusions Appendix: an introduction to philosophy of science Bibliography Index.

Toward a General Theory of Competitive Rationality

Abstract: The author develops a theory of competitive rationality that proposes a firm's success depends on the imperfect procedural rationality of its marketing planners. Theories of economic psychology and...

Managerial Dilemmas: The Political Economy of Hierarchy

Abstract: List of tables and figures Series editors' preface Acknowledgements Part I. Why Have Hierarchy?: 1. Market failures and hierarchical solutions: the tension between individual and social rationality 2. Bargaining failure: coordination, bargaining, and contracts 3. Voting failure: social choice in a dictatorial hierarchy Part II. Managerial Dilemmas: 4. Horizontal dilemmas: social choice in a decentralised hierarchy 5. Vertical dilemmas: piece-rate incentives and credible commitments 6. Hidden action in hierarchies: principals, agents, and teams 7. Hidden information in hierarchies: the logical limits of mechanism design 8. Hierarchical failures and market solutions: can competition create efficient incentives for managers? Part III. Cooperation and Leadership: 9. The possibilities of cooperation: repeated vertical dilemmas 10. The indeterminacy of cooperation: conventions, culture, and commitments 11. The political economy of hierarchy: commitment, leadership and property rights Epilogue: politics, rationality, and efficiency References Name index Subject index.

The Politics of Emotion: A Feminist Reading of Bounded Rationality

Abstract: A poststructuralist feminist reading of Herbert Simon's construct, bounded rationality, is prevented in this article. Following from this notion. It is maintained that even though bounded rationality provides a modified critique of “pure” rationality, this concept is grounded in male-centered assumptions that exclude alternative modes of organizing. Through a feminist deconstructive process, bounded emotionality is Introduced as an alternative organizing construct. The premises, conditions of organizing, and implications of this alternative are discussed and illustrated. Finally, theorists are urged to move beyond the traditional dichotomy between rationality and emotionality. In order to question the assumptions that underlie traditional constructs and to create new grounds for future theoretical activities.

Best laid schemes : the psychology of emotions

Abstract: List of figures and tables Acknowledgments Prologue Part I. Theory and Function: 1. The structure of emotions 2. Intuitive and empirical approaches to understanding 3. Rationality and emotions 4. Mutual plans and social emotions Part II. Conflict and Unpredictability: 5. Plans and emotions in fictional narrative 6. Stress and distress 7. Freud's cognitive psychology of intention: the case of Dora Part III. Enjoyment and Creativity: 8. Happiness 9. Putting emotions into words Epilogue Notes References Author index Subject index.

The Agency-Structure Problem in Foreign Policy Analysis

Abstract: The starting point of this article is the argument that scholars of foreign policy—in contrast to international relations theorists—have not sufficiently faced up to the explanatory implications of the agency-structure issue in the philosophy of social science. This claim is discussed with reference to four fundamental perspectives in foreign policy analysis, defined in terms of ontological and epistemological assumptions regarding the nature of social order and individual action . Taking its cue primarily from recent philosophical discussions within sociology and social theory, it proposes a metatheoretical framework based on a dynamic conception of the interplay over time between interpretative, purposive agents and a structural domain defined in terms of both constraining and enabling properties. On the basis of this suggested solution to the agency-structure problem, the article subsequently elaborates an explanatory framework premised on a morphogenetic conception of the contextually bound nature of the foreign policy behavior of states, arguing that this reconceptualization can incorporate not only (1) certain rationality assumptions of action, (2) psychological-cognitive explanatory approaches, and (3) the role, broadly speaking, of situational-structural factors, but also (4) an institutional perspective combined with (5) comparative case study analysis.

Citizenship, Diversity and Education: a philosophical perspective

Abstract: The concept of ‘education for citizenship’ contains a number of ambiguities and tensions, related to differing interpretations of the notion of ‘citizenship’. This paper explores some of the philosophical difficulties which arise from the task of trying to offer a substantial notion of ‘education for citizenship’ in the context of the diversity of a pluralistic democratic society. One of the central areas requiring attention by philosophers is an account of the public civic virtues which are ‘thick’ or substantial enough to satisfy the communal demands of citizenship, yet compatible with liberal demands concerning the development of critical rationality by citizens and satisfaction of the demands of justice relating to diversity. It is suggested that a wide ranging debate about these matters at the national level cannot be avoided if ‘education for citizenship’ is to be conducted defensibly and effectively.

Negotiation analysis: a characterization and review

Abstract: “Negotiation analysis” seeks to develop prescriptive theory and useful advice for negotiators and third parties. It generally emphasizes the parties' underlying interests (as distinct from the issues on the table and the positions taken), alternatives to negotiated agreement, approaches to productively manage the inherent tension between competitive actions to “claim” value individually and cooperative ones to “create” value jointly, as well as efforts to change perceptions of the game itself. Since advice to one side does not necessarily presume the full game-theoretic rationality of the other side(s), negotiation analysts often draw on the findings of behavioral decision analysts and economists. Further, this approach does not generally assume that all the elements of the “game” are common knowledge. Thus, the negotiation analytic approach tends to de-emphasize the application of game-theoretic solution concepts or efforts to find unique equilibrium outcomes. Instead, to evaluate possible strategies and...

Fragments of Rationality: Postmodernity and the Subject of Composition

Abstract: An assessment of the study and teaching of writing against the larger theoretical, political and technological upheavals of the past 30 years, "Fragments of Rationality" asks why composition studies has been less affected by postmodern theory than other humanities and social science disciplines For Lester Faigley, the very conservativism of composition teaching - which has resisted the challenges of postmodern thought - makes it a revealing object of study Composition at first seemed ready to accommodate postmodern ideas, but by the late 1980s, writing teachers were beginning to question many of the traditional presumptions underlying their approach to the task This crisis in theory has come just as the tenacious back-to-basics movement, a heightened emphasis on education for economic productivity, cuts in funding for public education, and the increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots in US society have forced teachers to consider the role of literacy instruction in reproducing social inequality Drawing on the insights of Foucault, Lyotard and other postmodern analysts, Faigley addresses the theoretical debate about the "self" the student writer is asked to occupy, the "modernist" goal of producing a rational, coherent student subject, and the writing instructor's unconscious imposition of elite values and expectations in evaluating student work He explores how networked computer technologies in writing classrooms are destabilising texts and subjects, and he asks what this loss of authority will mean for teachers of literacy Faigley concludes by arguing that the electronically mediated culture in which we live has not brought an end to meaning, history, or subjectivity, but it does require thinking through the politics of location In postmodern theory he finds ways of describing how subjects encounter boundaries in negotiating across competing discourses, and how awareness of those boundaries can be introduced into classroom practice

Basic emotions, rationality, and folk theory

Abstract: Answering the question of whether there are basic emotions requires considering the functions of emotions. We propose that just a few emotions are basic and that they have functions in managing action. When no fully rational solution is available for a problem of action, a basic emotion functions to prompt us in a direction that is better than a random choice. We contrast this kind of theory with a componential approach which we argue is either a version of the theory of basic emotions or else leads to the doctrine that emotions are mistaken tenets of folk psychology. We defend the psychological reality of the folk theory of emotions, and we argue that universal basic emotions make it possible to understand people from distant cultures, and to translate emotional terminology from one language to another. Finally, we show how theories of basic emotions can be tested, and indicate the kinds of empirical result that can bear on the issue.

Economics, Bounded Rationality and the Cognitive Revolution

Abstract: Part 1 Bounded rationality: discussion introductory comment colloquium with H.A. Simon. Part 2 Herbert Simon reprints: rational choice and the structure of the environment (1956) thinking by comuters (1966) information processing in computers and man (1964) scientific discovery as problem solving (1988). Part 3 New papers: subejective rationality and the explanation of social behaviour, Raymond Boudon organizational learning, problem solving and the division of labour, Massimo Egidi cognitive constraints of economic rationality, Ricardo Viale implications for economics, Robin Marris.

Rational Choice Theory: Advocacy and Critique

Abstract: Introduction - James S Coleman and Thomas J Farraro PART ONE: THEMES OF ADVOCACY The Method of Decreasing Abstraction - Siegwart Lindenberg The Role of Models of Purposive Action in Sociology - Margaret Marini Rational Choice as a Principle - David Willer The Case of Elementary Theory The Attainment of Global Order in Heterogeneous Societies - Michael Hechter, Debra Friedman and Satoshi Kanazawa PART TWO: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES Rationality and Emotion - Thomas J Scheff Homage to Norbert Elias Rationality and Robustness in Multilevel Systems - Michael Hannan Rational Choice Theory - Richard Munch A Critical Assessment of Its Explanatory Power PART THREE: RATIONAL CHOICE: PRO AND CON The Limits of Rational Choice Explanation - James Bonham Is Rational Choice Theory a Rational Choice Theory? - Peter Abell

The fragmentation of reason : preface to a pragmatic theory of cognitive evaluation

Abstract: From Descartes to Popper, philosophers have criticized and tried to improve the strategies of reasoning invoked in science and in everyday life. In recent years leading cognitive psychologists have painted a detailed, controversial, and highly critical portrait of common sense reasoning. Stephen Stich begins with a spirited defense of this work and a critique of those writers who argue that widespread irrationality is a biological or conceptual impossibility.Stich then explores the nature of rationality and irrationality: What is it that distinguishes good reasoning from bad? He rejects the most widely accepted approaches to this question approaches which unpack rationality by appeal to truth, to reflective equilibrium or conceptual analysis. The alternative he defends grows out of the pragmatic tradition in which reasoning is viewed as a cognitive tool. Stich's version of pragmatism leads to a radical epistemic relativism and he argues that the widespread abhorrence of relativism is ill founded.Stephen Stich is Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University and author of From Folk Psychology to Cognitive Science.

The Limits of Rationality

Abstract: Prevailing economic theory presumes that agents act rationally when they make decisions, striving to maximize the efficient use of their resources. Psychology has repeatedly challenged the rational choice paradigm with persuasive evidence that people do not always make the optimal choice. Yet the paradigm has proven so successful a predictor that its usecontinues to flourish, fueled by debate across the social sciences over "why" it works so well. Intended to introduce novices to rational choice theory, this accessible, interdisciplinary book collects writings by leading researchers. The Limits of Rationality illuminates the rational choice paradigm of social and political behavior itself, identifies its limitations, clarifies the nature of current controversies, and offers suggestions for improving current models. In the first section of the book, contributors consider the theoretical foundations of rational choice. Models of rational choice play an important role in providing a standard of human action and the bases for constitutional design, but do they also succeed as explanatory models of behavior? Do empirical failures of these explanatory models constitute a telling condemnation of rational choice theory or do they open new avenues of investigation and theorizing? Emphasizing analyses of norms and institutions, the second and third sections of the book investigate areas in which rational choice theory might be extended in order to provide better models. The contributors evaluate the adequacy of analyses based on neoclassical economics, the potential contributions of game theory and cognitive science, and the consequences for the basic framework when unequal bargaining power and hierarchy are introduced."

Privacy and Social Freedom

Abstract: This book attacks the assumption found in moral philosophy that social control as such is an intellectually and morally destructive force. It replaces this view with a richer and deeper perspective on the nature of social character aimed at showing how social freedom cannot mean immunity from social pressure. The author demonstrates how our competence as rational and social agents depends on a constructive adaptation of social control mechanisms. Our facility at achieving our goals is enhanced, rather than undermined, by social control. The author then articulates sources, contracts, and degrees of legitimate social control in different social and historical settings. Drawing on a wide range of material in moral and political philosophy, law, cognitive and social psychology, anthropology and literature, Professor Schoeman shows how the aim of moral philosophy ought to be to understand our social character, not to establish fortifications against it in the name of rationality and autonomy.

Law That Does Not Fit Society: Sentencing Guidelines as a Neoclassical Reaction to the Dilemmas of Substantivized Law

Abstract: Chances of realizing a legal rationality that does not fit society are limited. Referring to Weber's "Sociology of Law," to related themes in the sociology of polity, organizations, and occupations, and to recent debates on technocratization, juridification, delegalization, and responsive law, this article presents a theoretical discussion of this thesis. An empirical case, using the neoclassical concept of sentencing guidelines, exemplified by the federal and Minnesota cases, supports the argument. The neoclassical movement, aiming to reverse the substantivation of law and to correct lack of due process, functional failures, disparities, and discrimination, faces considerable impediments and may result in counterproductive effects. The article demostrates that (1) societal conditions that caused substantivation hamper reformalization in the political process; organizational and occupational consequences of substantivation also impede (2) political and (3) implementation chances of neoclassical instruments; and (4) impediments to reformalization derive from the method of central guidance used to reestablish sociologically formal rationality.

Rationality, Morality, and Exit

Abstract: The morality and rationality issue is explored from an Axelrod-type perspective; that is, it is discussed in terms of recurrent-prisoner's-dilemma-type games and behavioral strategies or programs for playing them. We argue that intuitive notions of rationality and morality can be shown to be mutually compatible if two assumptions are made: (1) that morality is specified as a general behavioral disposition or program whose rationality is to be determined in comparison to alternative behavioral programs and (2) that the recurrent game is specified as a prisoner's dilemma game with an exit option. The results of a simulation experiment are presented, showing that a “moral program” (specified as one that never defects, but exits in response to an opponents defection) is successful in competition with a variety of alternative programs, including Tit for Tat.

Subversive rationalization: technology, power and democracy 1

Abstract: This paper argues, against technological and economic determinism, that the dominant model of industrial society is politically contingent. The idea that technical decisions are significantly constrained by ‘rationality’ ‐ either technical or economic ‐ is shown to be groundless. Constructivist and hermeneutic approaches to technology show that modern societies are inherently available for a different type of development in a different cultural framework. It is possible that, in the future, those who today are subordinated to technology's rhythms and demands will be able to control it and to determine its evolution. I call the process of creating such a society ‘subversive rationalization’ because it requires technological advances that can only be made in opposition to the dominant hegemony.

The Theory of Choice: A Critical Guide

Abstract: Introduction. Part I: Individual Choice: 1. Rationality. 2. Consumer Theory. 3. How People Choose. 4. Risk, Ignorance and Imagination. 5. Homo Economicus Homo Sociologicus. 6. Autonomy. Part II: Interactive Choice: 7. Game Theory. 8. Bargaining. 9. Game Theory Applied. 10. Organizations. 11. Cultural Exchange. 12. Anarchic Order. Part III: Collective Choice: 13. Social Choice. 14. Democracy. 15. Power. 16. Planning. 17. Agendas. 18. Social Justice. Keywords. Bibliography. Index.

Enthralled with Modernity: The Historical Context of Knowledge and Theory Development in Public Administration.

Abstract: What impact has the "culture of modernity" had on the field of public administration? Guy B. Adams contends that the American cultural preoccupation with modernity has shaped the study of puhlic administration into an ahistorical and atemporal field that stresses technical rationality and has limited capacity to address critical questions facing society. This approach to public administration puts its emphasis on professionalism and the "scientific" and "rigorous" study of the field. Adams calls for greater attention to history that produces a "genuinely open inquiry" in the field. A Century of Progress title of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair

The Uses and Utility of Ideology: Some Reflections

Abstract: Without wishing to commit the etymological fallacy in the understanding of a word's meaning, I would like first to comment on the traditions of usage of the term ideoloqv, a theme elegantly announced in Woolard's introductory discussion of "issues and approaches." As is well known, it was Antoine Louis Claude Comte Destutt de Tiacy (1754-1836) who invented the term, in that naturalizing move of the French Enlightenment rendition of l,ocke (or, to be sure, Condillocke) that sought to understand human "nature." Ideology was proposed as that special branch of zoology that recognizes the condition of humans, we animals who have ideas as the content of what we should call our minds. Central here is the fact that any ideas more developed than physiological sensations are dependent on such ideas'being clothed in signs, the organization of which by some systematic grammar allows the discursive xpression of a logical faculty of mind. Hence, for Destutt de Tiacy, there is the general scientific field of ideology proper, the science of ideas, of which the subfield of grammar studies the signiffing externalizations, as it were, in structured systems of articulated signs, and the subfield of logic the modes of rationality oriented to truth and certitude of inferential states of mind (i.e., formation and combinatorics of ideas). Such a science would, for its propounder, also allow us to diagnose and understand "the causes of incertitude and flogical] error," thus presumably leading to an amelioration of the human condition vis-d-vis its natural mental faculties. It is particularly interesting, therefore, to see the fate of this term, proposed as a formation parallel to any of the other "-ologies" of a systematic scientific outlook. It has obviously become a word that now denotes a part or aspect of Destutt de Tiacy's very object of investigation, and in many appearances has the specifically "pejorative" use to pick up on Jane Hill's invocation of Raymond Geuss (1981: 12-22) that presupposes we know certain ideas to be dubious, in error, and

Backward induction, normal form perfection and explicable equilibria

Abstract: A weakening of D. Kreps and R. Wilson's (1982) notion of sequential rationality is presented. The motivation stems from the difficulty in justifying sequentially rational behavior in subgames reachable only through a violation of sequential rationality. Although the present notion of weak sequential rationality is based upon extensive form considerations, it bears a close relation to R. Selten's (1975) normal form perfect equilibria. Backward induction outcomes can be achieved in generic games of perfect information with additional restrictions on beliefs. An example with imperfect information shows that sequential rationality is not the consequence of equilibrium play and the absence of incredible threats. Copyright 1992 by The Econometric Society.

The rhetoric and rationality of accounting research.

Abstract: This essay suggests the value of a rhetorical understanding of accounting research practice. Rhetoric reminds us that despite the methodological differences across various accounting research communities, there is a ubiquity to argument in scholarly practice. No matter what kinds of questions accounting researchers address, no matter what methods they apply to those questions, no matter what languages they evoke, and no matter what purposes and values they attach to the research enterprise, nothing counts as accounting knowledge until it is argued before one's peers. Thus, while rhetoric is not going to substitute for the many and different substantive ways in which accounting researchers produce accounting knowledge, neither can those substantive methods substitute for rhetoric. An understanding of rhetoric's role within research is thereby necessary to understand the practice of accounting research and, in turn, the knowledge such practice produces.

On Learning and Adaptation in the Economy

Abstract: The standard mode of theorizing assumed in economics deductive--it assumes that human agents derive their conclusions by logical processes from complete, consistent and well-defined premises in a given problem. This works well in simple problems, but it breaks down beyond a "problem complexity boundary" where human computational abilities are exceeded or the assumptions of deductive rationality cannot be relied upon to hold. The paper draws upon what is known in psychology to argue that beyond this problem complexity boundary humans continue to reason well, but by using induction rather than deduction. That is, difficult or complex decision problems, humans transfer experience from other, similar problems they have faced before; they look for patterns and analogies that help them construct internal models of and hypotheses about the situation they are in; and they act more or less deductively on the basis of these. In doing so they constantly update these models and hypotheses by importing feedback--new observations--from their environment. Thus, in dealing with problems of high complexity humans live in a world of learning and adaptation. I illustrate these ideas by showing that the processes of pattern recognition, hypothesis formation and refutation over time are perfectly amenable to analysis; and by using them to explain supposedly "anomalous" behavior in financial markets

Thinking About Gender

Abstract: I present a way of thinking about gender that I have found helpful in evaluating various proposed feminist projects. By considering gender and value as independent dimensions, relationships of “difference” can be more clearly perceived as involving relationships of lack, of complementarity, or of perversion. I illustrate the use of my gender/value “compass” with applications to questions of self-identity, rationality, and knowledge. This way of thinking about gender allows a conceptualization of feminism that neither erases nor emphasizes gender distinctions.