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Philosophy of markets

The very excellent Lisa Herzog interviewed here. H/T to Eric Schliesser. The cliché is that Smith is a “negative liberty” guy and Hegel a “positive liberty” guy. In fact, both have very nuanced accounts of how different dimensions of freedom are realized in a modern society; the freedom to do what you want with your property…

C + T 2:2

Latest issue Alexander William SalterAustrian EconomicsbankingBehavioral economicsDiablo IIemergent orderHayekJacky MallettmarketsPaul LewisPeter Lewinphilosophy of social sciencesituated cognitionsocial epistemologySolomon SteinSpontaneous order

A Danse Macabre of Wants and Satisfactions: Hayek, Oakeshott, Liberty, and Cognition

Just published in Austrian Economic Perspectives on Individualism and Society: Moving Beyond Methodological Individualism Austrian EconomicsAustrian SchoolBehavioral economicscomplexityconsumerismcorey abeldistributed cognitionEconomicsguinevere liberty nellHayekIndividualismindividualityLiberalismLibertarianismLibertyMichael Oakeshottsituated cognitionsocial epistemologysocial ontologysocial realitySpontaneous orderWalker Percy

Austrian Theory and Economic Organization: Reaching Beyond Free Market Boundaries

The first volume (of two) edited by Guinevere Liberty Nell. The Austrian economic school famously predicted and explained the problems of calculation in a socialist society. With their concept of spontaneous order, they challenged mainstream economists to look beyond simplified static models and consider the dynamic and evolutionary characteristics of social orders. However, many feel that…

Risky business

A new article in the latest issue of the PNAS entitled “Predicting risky choices from brain activity patterns“ (h/t to Shannon Selin). This study reminds me of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky’s work: Prospect theory concerns the psychophysics of wealth utility: that is, the perceived tradeoffs between potential outcomes and the probability of some outcome occurring. Kahneman…

Constructivist and Ecological Rationality in Economics

All those interested in extended mind/externalist/situated type thought should be aware of the field of Behavioral Economics (BE) in general and the work of Vernon Smith in particular. BE is a body of literature that was ploughing this trough some twenty years before the hypothesis of extended cognition took root in cognitive science. It is interesting…