Rethinking Bounded Rationality

Egidi, Massimo (2002) Rethinking Bounded Rationality. UNSPECIFIED. (Unpublished)

[img]
Preview
PDF
Download (193Kb) | Preview

    Abstract

    [From the "Introduction"] In some contexts, like for example complex games and puzzles, the search of solutions for problems leads to discover different procedures, none of which can be considered “the best” one. In these contexts, in fact, the different solutions can be compared only in some specific well known domain of application, while in other domains the comparison is incomplete or vague, or the domain may have imperfectly known boundaries: it is therefore impossible to put the different procedures in a precise preference order over the entire domain of applicability. Moreover these procedures may be “locally stable” because small local changes in the instructions that define them do not lead to any improvement, and therefore individuals that discover one solution may remain locked in it without trying to search alternative solutions. The search of solutions in puzzles shows striking analogies with the search of new theoretical approaches that take place when a consolidated theory fails to explain new phenomena. The properties of search in puzzles – multiplicity, local stability and incompleteness of solutions – also affect the new theoretical approaches, i.e. the new solutions to a scientific puzzle, that emerge challenging a dominant theory. (...)

    Item Type: Departmental Technical Report
    Department or Research center: CEEL (Computable and Experimental Economics Laboratory)
    Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA269 Game theory
    H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
    Report Number: 12
    Repository staff approval on: 19 Jan 2011

    Actions (login required)

    View Item