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What to Conclude from Psychological Experiments: The Contrasting Cases of Experimental and Behavioral Economics

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  • Floris Heukelom

Abstract

To understand the relationship between experimental and behavioral economics, we need to go back to the late 1970s and early 1980s. In the 1970s, psychologists began conducting new kinds of experiments, the results of which seemed to falsify the assumption of rational individual behavior. This compelled experimental economists to stake out a position for the economics discipline regarding the results. Much to their surprise, their experiments corroborated the results of the psychologists. This led them to completely discard preference theory but at the same time to emphasize the role of the market as the mechanism that rationalizes individual behavior. An initially diverse and unorganized group of financial and other economists drew very different conclusions from these same experimental results. They saw them as proof of observed anomalies in financial markets and hailed Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky's prospect theory as the most important candidate for replacing the traditional microeconomic model of human behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Floris Heukelom, 2011. "What to Conclude from Psychological Experiments: The Contrasting Cases of Experimental and Behavioral Economics," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 43(4), pages 649-681, Winter.
    • Handle: RePEc:hop:hopeec:v:43:y:2011:i:4:p:649-681
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    Cited by:

    1. Dorian Jullien & Nicolas Vallois, 2014. "A probabilistic ghost in the experimental machine," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 232-250, September.
    2. Floris Heukelom, 2011. "Behavioral Economics," Chapters, in: John B. Davis & D. Wade Hands (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Recent Economic Methodology, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Dorian Jullien, 2013. "Asian Disease-type of Framing of Outcomes as an Historical Curiosity," GREDEG Working Papers 2013-47, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    4. Petracca, Enrico, 2015. "A tale of paradigm clash: Simon, situated cognition and the interpretation of bounded rationality," MPRA Paper 64517, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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