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Evolutionary game theory and the normative theory of institutional design: Binmore and behavioral economics

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  • Don Ross

    (University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA; University of Cape Town, South Africa)

Abstract

In this article, I critically respond to Herbert Gintis's criticisms of the behavioral-economic foundations of Ken Binmore's game-theoretic theory of justice. Gintis, I argue, fails to take full account of the normative requirements Binmore sets for his account, and also ignores what I call the ‘scale-relativity’ considerations built into Binmore's approach to modeling human evolution. Paul Seabright's criticism of Binmore, I note, repeats these oversights. In the course of answering Gintis's and Seabright's objections, I clarify and extend Binmore's theory in a number of respects, integrating it with Kim Sterelny's and Don Ross's recent (respective) work on the evolution of people as cultural entities. The account also yields a novel basis for choosing between socialism (broadly conceived) and what Binmore calls ‘whiggery’ as normative political programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Don Ross, 2006. "Evolutionary game theory and the normative theory of institutional design: Binmore and behavioral economics," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 5(1), pages 51-79, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:pophec:v:5:y:2006:i:1:p:51-79
    DOI: 10.1177/1470594X06060619
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    Cited by:

    1. Catalina BUTNARU, 2009. "Social Psychology And Marketing: The Consumption Game. Understanding Marketing And Consumer Behavior Through Game Theory," Review of Economic and Business Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 4, pages 165-184, November.
    2. Najid Ahmad & Fredj Jawadi & Muhammad Azam, 2023. "Do Multi-Market Institutions and Renewable Energy Matter for Sustainable Development: A Panel Data Investigation," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 62(4), pages 1393-1411, December.
    3. Dennis C. Mueller, 2006. "Democracy, Rationality and Morality," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2006-15, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    4. Krieger-Boden, Christiane, 2013. "New ethics for economics?," Kiel Policy Brief 60, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    5. Francesco GUALA, 2010. "Reciprocity: weak or strong? What punishment experiments do (and do not) demonstrate," Departmental Working Papers 2010-23, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    6. Geoffrey Hodgson & Kainan Huang, 2012. "Evolutionary game theory and evolutionary economics: are they different species?," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 345-366, April.

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