Cognitive economics

This thesis explores the evolution and impact of behavioral economics on public policy, with a focus on how cognitive biases and psychological insights have reshaped the traditional view of rational economic decisionmaking.
Drawing on the pioneering work of Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky, and Richard Thaler, the study outlines the shift from the classical model of the homo oeconomicus to a more realistic representation of human behavior marked by bounded rationality, mental accounting, and loss aversion.
After a historical and theoretical overview, the thesis examines the practical application of behavioral principles in public policy, particularly the concept of the “nudge” and its use in shaping individual behavior without restricting freedom of choice. Special attention is given to international case studies and institutional experiences, such as the Behavioral Insights Team (UK) and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (USA).
The final section critically analyzes the response of public institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of behavioral strategies in a context of deep uncertainty. The Italian case is discussed in detail, underlining the gap between scientific knowledge (episteme) and public perception (doxa).
This research aims to contribute to the ongoing debate on the future role of behavioral economics in policymaking, advocating for an interdisciplinary, evidence-based approach that fosters social resilience and informed decision-making.

A quattordici anni dalla risoluzione ONU 65/309, "Happiness: towards a holistic approach to development", il modello di GNH (Gross National Happiness, Felicità Interna Lorda) del Bhutan emerge con rinnovata forza come proposta alternativa ai paradigmi dominanti dello sviluppo economico. Nato nel 1972 per volontà del quarto re Jigme Singye Wangchuck e radicato nella filosofia del Buddhismo Vajrayāna, il concetto di FIL propone una visione olistica del benessere che trascende la mera crescita del PIL. Questo saggio esamina i fondamenti culturali, spirituali e neuropsicologici della FIL, analizzando il suo indice multidimensionale-ispirato al metodo Alkire-Foster-e ne esplora l'applicabilità oltre i confini himalayani, in particolare nel contesto italiano. Attraverso un confronto critico con il World Happiness Report e i suoi limiti epistemologici, viene sottolineata l'unicità della definizione bhutanese di felicità (gewa), intesa come equilibrio eudemonico tra dimensioni materiali, relazionali, ambientali e spirituali. Si evidenziano i legami tra la meditazione buddhista, le neuroscienze della felicità e le implicazioni psicopolitiche del benessere soggettivo. Infine, il saggio discute le potenzialità di una localizzazione del metodo FIL in Italia, suggerendo come l'adozione di indicatori multidimensionali possa rendere visibili forme di sofferenza invisibile e orientare politiche pubbliche più empatiche, inclusive e sostenibili. Il Bhutan, dunque, non come modello da imitare, ma come specchio critico: una lente attraverso cui ripensare il significato stesso di progresso e felicità nel XXI secolo.

This paper introduces the concept of the Absorption Economy—a structural model for understanding persistent asset price inflation, declining real yields, and the growing disconnect between capital value and productive output. It argues that as technological progress continues to reduce the cost of producing goods and services, both human effort and surplus capital are increasingly redirected into capital assets—not for their productive capacity, but because they have become the primary sinks for surplus energy in the economy.
This process is not a temporary anomaly or speculative excess. It is a rational systemic response to efficiency: when consumption needs are easily met, the surplus flows elsewhere. That "elsewhere" is land, financial instruments, and infrastructure—assets whose value is now anchored not in output or yield, but in embedded effort, social dependency, and systemic continuity.
The result is a persistent compression of return expectations, where capital appreciates but no longer delivers reliable income. Yield becomes secondary to positional value: access, stability, and integration into critical systems.
This paper traces the monetary dynamics driving this transformation, identifies the key properties of capital assets in this new regime, and proposes a reframing of economic value based on infrastructural absorption rather than marginal productivity. It lays the groundwork for a broader research programme exploring how economies must evolve when surplus effort no longer builds more output, but sustains the complex systems we already inhabit.

This study describe an experiment on individual learning in the domain of cognitive economics. The authors' main goal is to observe and to describe how subjects elaborate rules and regularities in problem solving. Involved subjects are asked to choose between different scores related to an evaluation of some hypothetical exams. The game is repeated a wide number of times, sufficient to permit the emergence of accurately observable results. A particular software has been developed to support the experiment. Results seem to show that subjects elaborate coherent rules in a pathdependent way; they manifest a tendency to consolidate these rules also when they are aware that they are wrong; and, at the same time, they exhibit an opposite predisposition not to confirm some rights rules.

This paper introduces the concept of consciousness in the debate on the role of identity in economics. After a brief review of the main issues emerged from this literature, it illustrates two neurobiological theories on the nature of consciousness and provides a contribution towards clarifying two controversial theoretical aspects: how economic agents are aware of the decision making process and the relationship between individual identity and social identity. With the help of some ideas borrowed from quantum physics, which are at the basis of the microbiological processes of human consciousness and generation of knowledge, we refer to the cognitive path from which emerges diversity, the imperfect predictability of human behaviour and the interactive connection between individual and social dimension.

Positive psychology, founded by Martin Seligman in 1998, has established itself very quickly in the international scene as the "new science of well-being". This kind of psychology affirms a general change in relation to the object of clinical psychology. Clinical psychology was traditionally interested in pathology and the deficit. It has been found to be more "effective" by using a theoretical model based on issues such as happiness, personal fulfillment and satisfaction with their own lives. The problem of measurability of these issues has been resolved through the production of a multitude of self-reporting instruments. These instruments have led to the creation of a considerable body of studies and research that has led to the widespread dissemination among government agencies and private institutions. However many dissenting voices highlight some particularly critical aspects, such as: the claim to measure issues that are difficult to define in an operationa...

This research focuses on a self-organizing network and the effect of some factors on the network performance by using it for personal photo recognition. The network is built in two types: one dimensional, and twodimensional network. A study for effect of the types of initial weights on the performance of the network as well, the performance of the network is tested using two types of the initial weights: random weights and fixed weights, which represent the mean of the inputs to the network. The obtained results show that it is preferred to initialize the network with random weights for the one dimensional network while the results were almost equal for the two dimensional network. The research also studies the effects of the neighborhood functions on the performance of the network. Three neighborhood functions are applied and compared. The experimental results had proved that the second function is the most efficient function among the others. In addition, a study of the network acceptance for the corrupted photos, and the effect of the number of output nodes on the ability of the network recognition. The results show that the density of the weight vectors should be greater than the network to separate the training patterns in the output nodes..

rue Bastien Lepage (davy.monticolo ; alex.gabriel ; pedro.chavez) @univ-lorraine.fr RÉSUMÉ. La gestion des connaissances est une opportunité d'amélioration des performances pour les organisations. Les connaissances sont dynamiques puisqu'elles évoluent continuellement et peuvent être diffusées sous forme d'informations de manière extrêmement variée et rapide à travers le réseau interne de l'organisation et de plus en plus à l'extérieur de l'organisation via l'immensité du Web. Pour que la gestion des connaissances soit effectivement un vecteur d'amélioration des performances d'une organisation, il faut au préalable une compréhension des mécanismes de création, de partage, de mise à jour et d'évolution des connaissances au sein de cette organisation. Ces processus sont très complexes lorsque l'on considère qu'ils sont différents au niveau d'un individu, d'un groupe et au niveau plus large du Web. Cet article propose une méthode de conception de système intelligent pour gérer les connaissances d'une organisation. L'approche est basée sur une démarche de modélisation des organisations afin d'identifier les connaissances issues des interactions entre les différents rôles ainsi que sur la spécification de systèmes multi-agents dédiés à la gestion des connaissances à partir de modèles organisationnels. ABSTRACT. Knowledge management is an opportunity to improve performance for organizations. Knowledge is dynamic since it evolves continuously and can be disseminated in the form of information in an extremely varied and rapid ways through the internal network of the organization and more and more outside the organization through the Web. In order to use knowledge management approaches to increase the organizational performance, we need to understand the mechanisms for creating, sharing, updating, and evolving knowledge. These processes are very complex when you consider that they are different at the individual, group or communities on the Web. This article proposes an intelligent system design method for managing knowledge of an organization. The approach is based on an organization modeling approach in order to identify the knowledge resulting from the interactions between the different roles. The second part of the article describe the specification of multi-agent systems dedicated to knowledge management based on organizational models.

The weightlifting of Olympic sports that this lifts require an impressive variety of styles and followed the teacher to student access to the best performance, The research aims to identify the impact of the program tutorial using scheduling practice [Distributed-intensive-changing (Distributed-intensive)-changing (intensive-Distributed)] to learn the level of performance art and digital snatch and clean & jerk for students of the Faculty of Physical Education-Mansoura University, The researcher used the experimental method on a sample of 40 students were selected in the way of students allocated intentional weightlifting, Department of Curriculum and Teaching Methods of Physical Education, Mansoura University for the academic year 2010/2011, divided into four equal groups, The results of the study showed that the tutorial using forms method of scheduling practice [Distributed-intensive-changing (Distributed-intensive)-changing (intensive-Distributed)] have a positive effect on the level of performance and digital of snatch and clean& jerk, and the style of scheduling practice changing (Distributed-intensive) topping Ranking first in terms of impact on the level of technical performance and digital elevation abduction, and jerk and there is a correlation between the level of function, performance art and digital elevation level abduction clean &jerk for students of the Faculty of Physical Education, The researcher recommends applying tutorial using scheduling practice changing (Distributed-intensive) in the design of educational programs in weightlifting where it was found positive impact in the learning level of technical performance and improve the standard of digital snatch and clean& jerk Division of teaching physical education specialty lifting weights.

The weightlifting of Olympic sports that this lifts require an impressive variety of styles and followed the teacher to student access to the best performance, The research aims to identify the impact of the program tutorial using scheduling practice [Distributed-intensive-changing (Distributed-intensive)-changing (intensive-Distributed)] to learn the level of performance art and digital snatch and clean & jerk for students of the Faculty of Physical Education-Mansoura University, The researcher used the experimental method on a sample of 40 students were selected in the way of students allocated intentional weightlifting, Department of Curriculum and Teaching Methods of Physical Education, Mansoura University for the academic year 2010/2011, divided into four equal groups, The results of the study showed that the tutorial using forms method of scheduling practice [Distributed-intensive-changing (Distributed-intensive)-changing (intensive-Distributed)] have a positive effect on the level of performance and digital of snatch and clean& jerk, and the style of scheduling practice changing (Distributed-intensive) topping Ranking first in terms of impact on the level of technical performance and digital elevation abduction, and jerk and there is a correlation between the level of function, performance art and digital elevation level abduction clean &jerk for students of the Faculty of Physical Education, The researcher recommends applying tutorial using scheduling practice changing (Distributed-intensive) in the design of educational programs in weightlifting where it was found positive impact in the learning level of technical performance and improve the standard of digital snatch and clean& jerk Division of teaching physical education specialty lifting weights.

The Study aimed at examining the Counselling needs of students of the Heliopolis University, and the differences in identifying the students' their Counselling needs, and the differences between students in the priorities of it according to the Gender, their Collages, and and their Grades. the Random Sample was (563) males & females with Mean Age (22) years. from it the Pilot Sample was (543) males & females and (222) males & Females for the Descriptive Study.A questionnaire for priority Counselling needs was used to test the descriptive comparative assumptions associated with comparing the priorities for Counselling needs according to the type of study, Gender, and Grade. The study found (4) areas for indicative needs for students of the University of Heliopolis: (the field of Counselling needs for problems-the field of Counselling needs for personality-the field of academic Counselling needs-Counselling Needs for Sustainability), and the Priority Needs Counselling questionnaire was designed based on those areas. Through the use of the UNIANOVA , it was found that there were differences in the students 'Identifying of their Counselling needs according to the variable of the Grade. There is no Statistically significant Differences In the Counselling needs priorities according to the Gender by using ANOVA. And Via Using MANOVA there were a Statistically significant Differences according to type of Study in the Priorities of counselling needs for Sustainability. There were a Statistically significant Differences in the Priorties of counselling needs for Problems according to Grade .The Results Showed Also Statistically significant Differences for the Interaction of Type of the Study × The Grade in Priorities of counselling needs for Problems and personality. Via using Post Hoc showed that Statistically significant Differences Oriented to the First and Final Grades

The weightlifting of Olympic sports that this lifts require an impressive variety of styles and followed the teacher to student access to the best performance, The research aims to identify the impact of the program tutorial using scheduling practice [Distributed-intensive-changing (Distributed-intensive)-changing (intensive-Distributed)] to learn the level of performance art and digital snatch and clean & jerk for students of the Faculty of Physical Education-Mansoura University, The researcher used the experimental method on a sample of 40 students were selected in the way of students allocated intentional weightlifting, Department of Curriculum and Teaching Methods of Physical Education, Mansoura University for the academic year 2010/2011, divided into four equal groups, The results of the study showed that the tutorial using forms method of scheduling practice [Distributed-intensive-changing (Distributed-intensive)-changing (intensive-Distributed)] have a positive effect on the level of performance and digital of snatch and clean& jerk, and the style of scheduling practice changing (Distributed-intensive) topping Ranking first in terms of impact on the level of technical performance and digital elevation abduction, and jerk and there is a correlation between the level of function, performance art and digital elevation level abduction clean &jerk for students of the Faculty of Physical Education, The researcher recommends applying tutorial using scheduling practice changing (Distributed-intensive) in the design of educational programs in weightlifting where it was found positive impact in the learning level of technical performance and improve the standard of digital snatch and clean& jerk Division of teaching physical education specialty lifting weights.

تعد المرأة نصف الثروة البشرية في المجتمع وخاصا في الوقت الحاضر حيث تظهر بوضوح حاجة البلد الى امكانياتها و خبراتها العملية كجزء مهم من القوى العاملة، الا ان رغم امتلاك المرأة المؤهلات العلمية و الكفاءة الجيدة الا انها لا تحظى بفرص عمل مناسبة مع قدراتها الفكرية، لذلك انصب هذا البحث في التعرف على واقع طبيعة عمل المراة المتزوجة والدوافع التي دفعتها للخروج الى سوق العمل من خلال الدراسة الميدانية وبصورة مباشرة عن طريق توزيع استمارة الاستبيان بطريقة عشوائية  ملحق (1) التي تم توزيعها فعلا من قبل الباحثة متخذة من مراكز اقضية محافظة واسط مجالا لها خريطة (1) لسد النقص الحاصل في البيانات، وكان نصيب كل مركز قضاء (100) استمارة  حيث اصبح المجموع الكلي (600) استمارة. وقد اعتمدت الدراسة على الجانب الوصفي والتحليل والتعليل بغية الوصول الى افضل النتائج التي تأمل الباحثة من تحقيقها، فضلا عن استخدام النسبة المئوية والاشكال والخرائط لتعزيز نتائج البحث. ستتناول الدراسة التوزيع العددي والنسبي للمرأة العاملة المتزوجة ،والخصائص السكانية للمرأة العاملة المتزوجة، ودوافع عمل المرأة المتزوجة و من ثم النتائج والم...

This paper introduces the concept of consciousness in the debate on the role of identity in economics. After a brief review of the main issues emerged from this literature, it illustrates two neurobiological theories on the nature of consciousness and provides a contribution towards clarifying two controversial theoretical aspects: how economic agents are aware of the decision making process and the relationship between individual identity and social identity. With the help of some ideas borrowed from quantum physics, which are at the basis of the microbiological processes of human consciousness and generation of knowledge, we refer to the cognitive path from which emerges diversity, the imperfect predictability of human behaviour and the interactive connection between individual and social dimension.

This paper examines the process by which agents learn to act in economic environments. Learning is particularly complicated in such situations since the environment is, at least in part, made up of other agents who are also learning. At best, one can hope to obtain analytical results for a rudimentary model. To make progress in understanding the dynamics of learning and coordination in general cases one can simulate agent based models to see whether the results obtained in skeletal models translate into the more general case. Using this approach can help us to understand which are the crucial assumptions in determining whether learning converges and, if so, to which sort of state. Three examples are presented, one in which agents learn to form trading relationships, one in which agents misspecify the model of their environment and a last one in which agents may learn to take actions which are systematically favourable, (or unfavourable) for them. In each case simulating models in which agents operate with simple rules in a complex environment, allows us to examine the role of the type of learning process used by the agents the extent to which they coordinate on a final outcome and the nature of that outcome.

Le thème de l'information et de la connaissance est relativement récent en économie. Nous retraçons historiquement son émergence et nous présentons les théorisations proposées initialement. Non pas par souci de rappeler les éléments d'une histoire d'ailleurs pas encore écrite, mais simplement pour rappeler les questionnements qui sont à l'origine des problématiques existantes. Nous abordons deux problèmes. D'une part celui de savoir en quoi pourrait consister un programme de recherche en « économie cognitive ». D'autre part nous posons la question de savoir sur la base de quel modèle épistémique les économistes peuvent aborder le thème de l'information et de la connaissance. Nous opposons, ce qui est banal dans le domaine de sciences cognitives, et qui l'est beaucoup moins en économie, le paradigme computationniste et le paradigme connexioniste. Grosso modo, le paradigme computationniste s'articule bien avec le courant orthodoxe ainsi qu'avec ...

This Chapter extends some economic models that take advantage of a formalism inspired from statistical mechanics to account for social influence in individual decisions. Starting with a framework suggested by Durlauf, Blume and Brock, we introduce three classes of models shifting progressively from rational towards adaptive expectations. We discuss the risk and opportunity of transposing the tools, methods and concepts from statistical mechanics to economics. We also analyze some issues seldom addressed, such as a comparison between two models of heterogeneous idiosyncratic preferences, corresponding to cases with quenched and annealed disorder in statistical physics, respectively.

Academic rentiership' is an economistic way of thinking about the familiar tendency for academic knowledge to consolidate into forms of expertise that exercise authority over the entire society. The feature that 'rentiership' highlights is control over what can be accepted as a plausible knowledge claim, which I call 'modal power'. This amounts to how the flow of information is channelled in society, with academic training and peer-reviewed research being the main institutional drivers. This paper begins by contextualizing rentiership in the deeper issues surrounding 'cognitive economy' that lie at the heart of the Western philosophical tradition. The psychological phenomenon of the 'Gestalt shift' is used to illustrate various ways in which the flow of information can be channelled to enable or disable certain possible ways of regarding the world. Against this background, such familiar concepts from academic practice as 'quality control' and 'plagiarism' acquire a new look. Quality control aims to maintain rentiership, whereas plagiarism aims to undermine it. The second half of the paper is largely concerned with the historical swings back and forth between rentiership and anti-rentiership in academia. Rentiership's decline is associated with corruption of its quality control processes, which reveals academia's reliance on equally corrupt power elites in society. In addition, the introduction of new communication media over which academia cannot exert proprietary control also serves to open up the sphere of plausible knowledge claims. The ongoing Internet revolution is likely to permanently alter the terms on which academic rentiership will be possible in the future.

Programma Programma del corso di Rischio, Incertezza e mercati finanziari (I semestre) Prof. ssa Enrica Carbone Contenuto del corso Il corso affronta le seguenti tematiche: La crisi finanziaria (su questo argomento gli studenti svolgeranno un progetto). Concetti di Base della Finanza 1. Rendimento delle Azioni, delle obbligazioni e delle attività reali 2. Valore attuale scontato 3. Utilità e curve d'indifferenza: Teoria dell'Utilità attesa 4. Curve d'indifferenza e Utilità Intertemporale 5. Decisioni di investimento e consumo ottimo La critica alla teoria dell'Utilità Attesa: Il paradosso di Allais ed altre critiche L'ambiguity e il paradosso di Ellsberg La teoria Media-Varianza e il Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) L'ipotesi di efficienza dei mercati e critica all'ipotesi dei mercati efficienti Una introduzione alla finanza comportamentale Euristiche e pregiudizi nella formulazione dei prospetti di scelta Prospect Theory La contabilità mentale Orizzont...

Accroissement de la complexité des décisions dans un contexte de prolifération des règles Résumé Cet article décrit comment la prolifération des règles impacte la complexité en prise de décision. Bien que ce phénomène soit connu, peu de chercheurs ont étudié la prolifération des règles et son impact sur la prise de décision. Ainsi, bien des décisions managériales sur les règles sont basées sur des connaissances communes plutôt que sur des connaissances scientifiques. Le modèle illustre la complexité de la prise de décision en examinant les coûts de recherche, les coûts de calcul et les coûts de complexité à différents niveaux de complexité de prolifération des règles. Il conduit à une série de propositions pouvant être testée empiriquement. Le modèle permet aux dirigeants de comprendre comment la prolifération des règles interagit avec la prise de décision et intensifie la complexité.

This paper summarizes the effects of social influences in a monopoly market with heterogeneous agents. The market equilibria are presented in the limiting case of global influence. Considering static profit maximization there may exist two different regimes: to sell either to a large fraction of customers at a low price, or to a small fraction of them at a higher price. This arises for numerous mono-modal distributions of idiosyncratic willingness to pay if the social influence is strong enough. The seller’s optimal strategy switches from one regime to the other at parameter values where the demand has two different Nash equilibria; but the strategy of posting low prices to attract large fractions of buyers may fail due to a lack of coordination.

This Chapter extends some economic models that take advantage of a formalism inspired from statistical mechanics to account for social influence in individual decisions. Starting with a framework suggested by Durlauf, Blume and Brock, we introduce three classes of models shifting progressively from rational towards adaptive expectations. We discuss the risk and opportunity of transposing the tools, methods and concepts from statistical mechanics to economics. We also analyze some issues seldom addressed, such as a comparison between two models of heterogeneous idiosyncratic preferences, corresponding to cases with quenched and annealed disorder in statistical physics, respectively.

In this paper, we explore the effects of the introduction of localised externalities through interaction structures upon local and global properties of the simplest market model: the discrete choice model with a single homogeneous product and a single seller (monopoly). Following Kirman, the resulting market is viewed as a complex interactive system. We use an ACE (Agent based Computational Economics) approach to investigate the market mechanisms and underline in what way the knowledge of generic properties of complex adaptive system dynamics can enhance our perception of the market mechanism in the numerous cases where individual decisions are inter-related. plus simple modèle de marché : choix discret, produit homogène, monopole. A la suite de Kirman, le marché ainsi décrit peut être considéré comme un système complexe interactif. Nous utilisons une approche multi-agents (ACE) pour explorer les mécanismes de marché et monter de quelle manière les propriétés génériques des systèmes complexes adaptatifs peuvent améliorer notre perception des phénomènes de marchés lorsque les choix des agents sont interdépendants.

In this paper, we explore the effects of the introduction of localised externalities through interaction structures upon local and global properties of the simplest market model: the discrete choice model with a single homogeneous product and a single seller (monopoly). Following Kirman, the resulting market is viewed as a complex interactive system. We use an ACE (Agent based Computational Economics) approach to investigate the market mechanisms and underline in what way the knowledge of generic properties of complex adaptive system dynamics can enhance our perception of the market mechanism in the numerous cases where individual decisions are inter-related. Résumé Dans ce papier, nous explorons les effets de l’introduction d’externalités transmises par des structures d’interactions sur les propriétés locales et globales du plus simple modèle de marché : choix discret, produit homogène, monopole. A la suite de Kirman, le marché ainsi décrit peut être considéré comme un système comp...

This Chapter extends some economic models that take advantage of a formalism inspired from statistical mechanics to account for social influence in individual decisions. Starting with a framework suggested by Durlauf, Blume and Brock, we introduce three classes of models shifting progressively from rational towards adaptive expectations. We discuss the risk and opportunity of transposing the tools, methods and concepts from statistical mechanics to economics. We also analyze some issues seldom addressed, such as a comparison between two models of heterogeneous idiosyncratic preferences, corresponding to cases with quenched and annealed disorder in statistical physics, respectively.

Le theme de l'information et de la connaissance est relativement recent en economie. Nous retracons historiquement son emergence et nous presentons les theorisations proposees initialement. Non pas par souci de rappeler les elements d'une histoire d'ailleurs pas encore ecrite, mais simplement pour rappeler les questionnements qui sont a l'origine des problematiques existantes. Nous abordons deux problemes. D'une part celui de savoir en quoi pourrait consister un programme de recherche en « economie cognitive ». D'autre part nous posons la question de savoir sur la base de quel modele epistemique les economistes peuvent aborder le theme de l'information et de la connaissance. Nous opposons, ce qui est banal dans le domaine de sciences cognitives, et qui l'est beaucoup moins en economie, le paradigme computationniste et le paradigme connexioniste. Grosso modo, le paradigme computationniste s'articule bien avec le courant orthodoxe ainsi qu'avec ...

The “paradox of happiness in economics” has aroused a growing interest among scholars all over the world. In opulent societies, many people, despite an increase in income, declare themselves less happy. One explanation is that economic growth can destroy some “relational goods” (personal relationships, friendship, family, love) affecting happiness. Such an explanation is based on an historical interpretation: marginalism would have darkened the theme of happiness in economics. This work shows, however, that two great marginalists, Menger and Bohm-Bawerk, formulated a theory of “relational goods” that complicates, in Hirschman’s sense, the whole history of happiness in economics.

Gli architetti della scelta cercano di introdurre pratiche di buona cittadinanza, aiutano le persone a scegliere il meglio per sé e per la società, partendo dalla consapevolezza che l’umano è un essere prevedibilmente irrazionale. Il loro edificare è detto nudge, termine usato per la prima volta con accezione di “spinta gentile” o “pungolo” da Richard Thaler e Cass Sunstein, portavoci di un’economia comportamentale applicata in ambito sociale. Cosa rende la “nudge theory” una innovazione tanto accogliente e valida?

النباك Nebak جمع نبكة وهى عبارة عن تجمعات من الرمال المتراكمة حول الحشائش والنباتات الصحراوية، وتتشكل النباك عندما تعترض حركة الرياح المحملة بالرمال عوائق نباتية على اختلاف أشكالها وأحجامها. ويطلق على النباك عدة مسميات مثل الكثبان الوليدة أو الكثبان الذيلية (نبيل سيد امبابى ومحمود محمد عاشور، 1985)، والعقد الكثيبية Knols Dunes، (Beheiry, 1967)، وكثبان الكدوات Hummock dune والتلال الرملية Sandhills (Pye, 1983). وتوجد النباك على شكل تراكمات رملية متعددة الأشكال تتباين فى أبعادها، وأحجامها وخصائصها المورفولوجية فى حقول صغيرة المساحة، فى المناطق المنخفضة المنسوب والقريبة من القرى والآبار وعيون المياه فى منخفض الواحات البحرية ، وتمثل النباك أحد الظاهرات الجيومورفولوجية فى المنخفض الناتجة عن أرساب الرياح، والتى لم يسبق إعداد دراسة جيومورفولوجية عنها. تتناول الدراسة الخصائص المورفولوجية للنباك وتشمل أبعاد النباك، وأحجامها ومراحل تطورها، التحليل المورفومترى لسفوح النباك ، الخصائص الطبيعية والكيميائية لرمال النباك، والعوامل المسئولة عن نشأة النباك فى المنخفض موضوع الدراسة.

Le thème de l'information et de la connaissance est relativement récent en économie. Nous retraçons historiquement son émergence et nous présentons les théorisations proposées initialement. Non pas par souci de rappeler les éléments d'une histoire d'ailleurs pas encore écrite, mais simplement pour rappeler les questionnements qui sont à l'origine des problématiques existantes. Nous abordons deux problèmes. D'une part celui de savoir en quoi pourrait consister un programme de recherche en « économie cognitive ». D'autre part nous posons la question de savoir sur la base de quel modèle épistémique les économistes peuvent aborder le thème de l'information et de la connaissance. Nous opposons, ce qui est banal dans le domaine de sciences cognitives, et qui l'est beaucoup moins en économie, le paradigme computationniste et le paradigme connexioniste. Grosso modo, le paradigme computationniste s'articule bien avec le courant orthodoxe ainsi qu'avec ...

This paper compares seven explanations of the socalled 'happiness paradox', which states that self-reported well-being of people living in rich countries does not systematically increase, or it even decreases, during the most recent decades. The paradox is strengthened by the evidence on rising psychological problems, on anxiety from time shortage, while the rush to consumption continues. The paper shows that three explanations are based on the deterioration of social and personal relations, which are very important for overall people's well-being-according to the psychologists-and that these explanations crucially complement the traditional ones based on adaptation and relative income.

The essay analyzes the decision process in economics and its relationship with the concept of rationality starting from the theory of rational choice, that is, a systemic approach based on the formal axiomatic method applied mainly in the microeconomic field, which has become the heart of neoclassical economics. The work also focuses on the important contribution of the cognitive economics to the concept of rationality and, consequently, of criticism that this theoretical approach moves to the standard economic theory in the definition of choices, indicating a systematic discrepancy between theory and empirical evidence. Moreover, the analysis puts forward the topic of rational expectations, as the rationality of expectations concerns the preferences, and also because the hypothesis of rational expectations has characterized the development of modern macroeconomics and influenced the issue of the efficient use of information by the economic agents. This work wants to highlight, using a very little formal language, the complexity of the choice process and the unsolved relationship between economic and psychological dimensions of such a process, but at the same time it wants to argue that the economic theory as a whole is far away today from an abstract conception perfectly rational and fully informed individuals which choose without making mistakes.

Cet article résume l'effet de l'influence sociale sur un marché de monopole avec des agents hétérogénes. Les équilibres du marché sont présentés dans le cas limite de l'influence globale. Considérant une maximisation statique du profit, il peut y avoir deux régimes : vendre soit à un grand nombre d'acheteurs avec un prix bas, soit à un petit nombre à un prix plus élevé. Ceci s'observe pour un grand nombre de distributions mono-modales de la disposition idiosyncrasique à payer si l'influence sociale est suffisament forte. La stratégie optimale du vendeur passe d'un régime à l'autre pour une valeur des paramètres ou la demande a deux equilibres de Nash différents; mais la stratégie des prix bas peut échouer à cause d'un manque de coordination des consommateurs. ABSTRACT. This paper summarizes the effects of social influences in a monopoly market with heterogeneous agents. The market equilibria are presented in the limiting case of global influence. Considering static profit maximization there may exist two different regimes: to sell either to a large fraction of customers at a low price, or to a small fraction of them at a higher price. This arises for numerous mono-modal distributions of idiosyncratic willingness to pay if the social influence is strong enough. The seller's optimal strategy switches from one regime to the other at parameter values where the demand has two different Nash equilibria; but the strategy of posting low prices to attract large fractions of buyers may fail due to a lack of coordination.

Al cuore della nostra vita -ha scritto Richard Layard (2005: 13) -c'è un paradosso. La maggior parte delle persone vuole guadagnare di più e si batte per raggiungere questo scopo. Tuttavia, mentre la ricchezza delle società occidentali ha continuato a crescere, i loro abitanti non sono affatto diventati più felici". I soldi non comprano la felicità, lo sappiamo da tanto tempo. Che talvolta possano anche distruggerla è una piccola verità custodita nel grande tempio della sapienza popolare. Ma che la felicità sia del tutto insensibile alla ricchezza è un fatto nuovo che suscita stupore e perplessità. Il "paradosso della felicità" ha conquistato contemporaneamente le prime pagine di autorevoli riviste scientifiche e le covers di influenti magazines. Ha incuriosito insieme economisti di professione e opinione pubblica. Nel 2004 Kahneman riceve il Nobel in economia per contributi scientifici riconducibili al tema della felicità. L'influente settimanale inglese -The Economist -dedica la copertina dell'ultimo numero del 2006 a "Happiness (and how to measure it)"; il leading article inizia con queste parole: "Capitalism can make a society rich and keep it free. Don't ask it to make you happy as well" (The Economist 2006). La prima questione che divide gli economisti è: l'economia politica può (o deve) occuparsi di felicità? I "beni" che riteniamo possano concorrere a migliorare il ben-essere o la felicità degli individui appartengono all'economia politica? Ricadono nella sua sfera d'indagine? Un numero crescente di studiosi risponde in modo affermativo. Alcuni sostengono anzi che l'economia nasce, nel Settecento, come scienza della felicità pubblica, che indaga direttamente la relazione tra benessere materiale e benessere "spirituale". Poi diventa la scienza della ricchezza, nel presupposto che il benessere materiale contribuisca, indirettamente, ad accrescere la felicità pubblica. Infine si trasforma nella scienza della scelta razionale che indaga la condotta degli uomini quando, nel perseguire fini alternativi, dispongono di mezzi scarsi. Il marginalismo, secondo questa lettura, spezza il tenue legame tra economia e felicità. Le relazioni umane sono infatti considerate soltanto una modalità per procurarsi beni che appagano bisogni. La relazione umana è puramente strumentale. Il bene è l'oggetto della relazione. Mai la relazione stessa. Secondo questi studiosi, la felicità dipende largamente proprio dalle relazioni umane non

Academic rentiership' is an economistic way of thinking about the familiar tendency for academic knowledge to consolidate into forms of expertise that exercise authority over the entire society. The feature that 'rentiership' highlights is control over what can be accepted as a plausible knowledge claim, which I call 'modal power'. This amounts to how the flow of information is channelled in society, with academic training and peer-reviewed research being the main institutional drivers. This paper begins by contextualizing rentiership in the deeper issues surrounding 'cognitive economy' that lie at the heart of the Western philosophical tradition. The psychological phenomenon of the 'Gestalt shift' is used to illustrate various ways in which the flow of information can be channelled to enable or disable certain possible ways of regarding the world. Against this background, such familiar concepts from academic practice as 'quality control' and 'plagiarism' acquire a new look. Quality control aims to maintain rentiership, whereas plagiarism aims to undermine it. The second half of the paper is largely concerned with the historical swings back and forth between rentiership and anti-rentiership in academia. Rentiership's decline is associated with corruption of its quality control processes, which reveals academia's reliance on equally corrupt power elites in society. In addition, the introduction of new communication media over which academia cannot exert proprietary control also serves to open up the sphere of plausible knowledge claims. The ongoing Internet revolution is likely to permanently alter the terms on which academic rentiership will be possible in the future.

Le thème de l'information et de la connaissance est relativement récent en économie. Nous retraçons historiquement son émergence et nous présentons les théorisations proposées initialement. Non pas par souci de rappeler les éléments d'une histoire d'ailleurs pas encore écrite, mais simplement pour rappeler les questionnements qui sont à l'origine des problématiques existantes. Nous abordons deux problèmes. D'une part celui de savoir en quoi pourrait consister un programme de recherche en « économie cognitive ». D'autre part nous posons la question de savoir sur la base de quel modèle épistémique les économistes peuvent aborder le thème de l'information et de la connaissance. Nous opposons, ce qui est banal dans le domaine de sciences cognitives, et qui l'est beaucoup moins en économie, le paradigme computationniste et le paradigme connexioniste. Grosso modo, le paradigme computationniste s'articule bien avec le courant orthodoxe ainsi qu'avec ...

Questo libro trae spunto dalle ripercussioni che le indagini sul decision making hanno avuto in sede di teoria politica, dando origine al recente dibattito sul paternalismo. Diversi studiosi, partendo dalla costatazione che le decisioni umane, lungi dall’essere l’esito di un calcolo logico – come prevede la cosiddetta teoria della scelta razionale – sono influenzate da specifici limiti cognitivi, hanno sostenuto l’opportunità di interventi governativi paternalistici che proteggano i cittadini da eventuali conseguenze indesiderate delle loro scelte. Ciò nella convinzione che sia possibile, attraverso un paternalismo soft, definito libertario, conciliare l’esigenza della protezione paternalistica con la salvaguardia del principio della libertà della scelta, che sta alla base della teoria democratica. Tuttavia il paternalismo libertario può essere più subdolo, e perciò più minaccioso per la libertà, del paternalismo autoritario. Ciò determina un’impasse: mentre dal punto di vista pratico molte misure paternalistiche sembrano ragionevoli e sono comunemente accettate, dal punto di vista teorico non sembra sia possibile una loro giustificazione soddisfacente. Una via d’uscita a quest’impasse c’è ma essa richiede una nuova impostazione del problema che, anziché limitarsi a introdurre nel dibattito politico i risultati delle indagini cognitive, com’è accaduto fino ad ora, metta in discussione il concetto di razionalità che sta alla base della teoria della scelta razionale tenendo conto dei dati emergenti dalle più recenti ricerche neuroscientifiche e individuando le implicazioni flosofico-politiche che ne possono derivare.