IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sdo/regaec/v21y2012i1_bt5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Some Thoughts on the Concept of Rationality in Economic Theory

Author

Listed:
  • Panico, Carlo

Abstract

Concept of rationality is crucial in economics. Different notions of rationality have accompanied its long journey, from that implied in classical economics to those proposed by neoclassical theory since 1870s. The paper also discusses the meaning of rationality in rational choice theory, the contributions of Simon on “bounded rationality” and the different lines of research of experimental economics, behavioural economics and neuronomics. During this long journey the literature has underlined the existence of several problems, some of which can be so summarised: is it possible to consider scientifically satisfactory a theory that moves from assumptions, like those on the behaviour of utility, whose validity cannot be empirically verified?, is the description of human psychology implied by the different versions of the neoclassical theory acceptable?, is it possible to overlook the influence of social interactions on individual choice?, is it possible to overlook that it may be not adequate or convenient to examine the working of the whole economic system as the sum of the behaviour of the individual agents? The paper argues that these problems have not yet found a satisfactory solution and that it may be convenient to go back to the contributions of Keynes, Sraffa and Myrdal during the 1920s and 1930s to develop adequate and competent answers.

Suggested Citation

  • Panico, Carlo, 2012. "Some Thoughts on the Concept of Rationality in Economic Theory," Revista Galega de Economía, University of Santiago de Compostela. Faculty of Economics and Business., vol. 21(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:sdo:regaec:v:21:y:2012:i:1_bt5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://minerva.usc.es/xmlui/handle/10347/19163
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sdo:regaec:v:21:y:2012:i:1_bt5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Marisa Chas-Amil (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feusces.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.