IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/osfxxx/vyarx.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Of Alcohol, Apes, And Taxes: Günter Schmölders And The Reinvention Of Economics In Behavioral Terms

Author

Listed:
  • Assistant, JHET
  • Graf, Rüdiger

Abstract

The article examines an early and idiosyncratic version of behavioral economics or “empir-ical socio-economics,” which the German economist and taxation expert Günter Schmölders developed in the postwar decades. Relying on both his published papers and his lecture notes and correspondence, it scrutinizes Schmölders’ intellectual upbringing in the tradition of the Historical School of Economics (Historische Schule der Nationalökonomie) and his relation to the emerging ordoliberalism, demonstrating that the roads that led to dissatisfaction with the emerging neoclassical mainstream and the unrealistic behavioral assumptions of macro-economic models were manifold. Accordingly, it shows that behavioral economics is compati-ble with various intellectual and political backgrounds and convictions. Yet, it still forms a dis-tinct entity: Comparing Schmölders with contemporary and later behavioral economists, I will show that they shared essential methodological assumptions as well as an understanding of human beings as decision-making organisms.

Suggested Citation

  • Assistant, JHET & Graf, Rüdiger, 2020. "Of Alcohol, Apes, And Taxes: Günter Schmölders And The Reinvention Of Economics In Behavioral Terms," OSF Preprints vyarx, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:osfxxx:vyarx
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/vyarx
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/5f68cc5d46080900aa1af23b/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/vyarx?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gilbert Faccarello & Heinz D. Kurz (ed.), 2016. "Handbook on the History of Economic Analysis Volume III," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13938.
    2. Jefferson Pooley & Mark Solovey, 2010. "Marginal to the Revolution: The Curious Relationship between Economics and the Behavioral Sciences Movement in Mid-Twentieth-Century America," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 42(5), pages 199-233, Supplemen.
    3. Esther-Mirjam Sent, 2004. "Behavioral Economics: How Psychology Made Its (Limited) Way Back Into Economics," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 36(4), pages 735-760, Winter.
    4. Thaler, Richard H & Shefrin, H M, 1981. "An Economic Theory of Self-Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(2), pages 392-406, April.
    5. Gilad, Benjamin & Kaish, Stanley & Loeb, Peter D., 1984. "From economic behavior to behavioral economics: The behavioral uprising in economics," Journal of Behavioral Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 3-24.
    6. Gilbert Faccarello & Heinz D. Kurz (ed.), 2016. "Handbook on the History of Economic Analysis Volume II," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13937.
    7. Loewenstein, George, 1996. "Out of Control: Visceral Influences on Behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 272-292, March.
    8. Amadae, S.M., 2003. "Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226016535, October.
    9. Abdolkarim Sadrieh & Axel Ockenfels (ed.), 2010. "The Selten School of Behavioral Economics," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-642-13983-3, October.
    10. Floris Heukelom, 2012. "Three explanations for the Kahneman-Tversky Programme of the 1970s," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(5), pages 797-828, October.
    11. Gilbert Faccarello & Heinz D. Kurz (ed.), 2016. "Handbook on the History of Economic Analysis Volume I," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13936.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sergios Tzotzes & Dimitris Milonakis, 2021. "Paradigm Change or Assimilation? The Case of Behavioral Economics," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 53(1), pages 173-192, March.
    2. Alexandre Truc, 2022. "The Disciplinary Mobility of Core Behavioral Economists," GREDEG Working Papers 2022-27, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    3. Aura María García Pabón, editor & Ana María Pérez Herrán, editor & Ismael Beltrán Prado, editor, 2019. "Competencia económica : reflexiones sobre los diez años de la Ley 1340 de 2009," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Economía, number 80, August.
    4. Vladimir Avtonomov, 2018. "Austrian economics and its reception in different countries," Russian Journal of Economics, ARPHA Platform, vol. 4(1), pages 1-7, April.
    5. 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.
    6. Mihail Yanchev, 2023. "Uncertainty - Definition and Classification for the Task of Economic Forecasting," Bulgarian Economic Papers bep-2023-03, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski - Bulgaria // Center for Economic Theories and Policies at Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski, revised Mar 2023.
    7. Madarász, Aladár, 2018. "A "túl elméleti" tőzsdeügynök: David Ricardo és az Alapelvek kétszáz éve ["Too theoretical" a stockjobber: 200 years of David Ricardo and his principles]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 449-483.
    8. Dieter Bögenhold, 2020. "History of Economic Thought as an Analytic Tool: why Past Intellectual Ideas Must Be Acknowledged as Lighthouses for the Future," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 26(1), pages 73-87, February.
    9. Lillemo, Shuling Chen, 2014. "Measuring the effect of procrastination and environmental awareness on households' energy-saving behaviours: An empirical approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 249-256.
    10. Ciccarelli, Carlo & Giamboni, Luigi & Waldmann, Robert, 2007. "Cigarette smoking, pregnancy, forward looking behavior and dynamic inconsistency," MPRA Paper 8878, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Leonardo Becchettibecchetti & Luisa Corrado & Pierluigi Conzo, 2017. "Sociability, altruism and well-being," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 41(2), pages 441-486.
    12. Martin G. Kocher & Peter Martinsson & Kristian Ove R. Myrseth & Conny E. Wollbrant, 2017. "Strong, bold, and kind: self-control and cooperation in social dilemmas," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 20(1), pages 44-69, March.
    13. Dorian Jullien, 2018. "Under Risk, Over Time, Regarding Other People: Language and Rationality within Three Dimensions," Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, in: Including a Symposium on Latin American Monetary Thought: Two Centuries in Search of Originality, volume 36, pages 119-155, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    14. Myrseth, Kristian Ove R. & Riener, Gerhard & Wollbrant, Conny, 2013. "Tangible temptation in the social dilemma : cash, cooperation, and self-control," Borradores Departamento de Economía 17489, Universidad de Antioquia, CIE.
    15. Isabelle Brocas & Juan D. Carrillo, 2008. "The Brain as a Hierarchical Organization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1312-1346, September.
    16. Drew Fudenberg, 2006. "Advancing Beyond Advances in Behavioral Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(3), pages 694-711, September.
    17. Dufwenberg, Martin & Servátka, Maroš & Vadovič, Radovan, 2017. "Honesty and informal agreements," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 269-285.
    18. McLeish, Kendra N & Oxoby, Robert J, 2006. "Measuring Impatience: Elicited Discount Rates and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale," MPRA Paper 1524, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Dorian Jullien & Alexandre Truc, 2024. "Towards a History of Behavioral and Experimental Economics in France," GREDEG Working Papers 2024-23, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    20. Segovia, Michelle & Palma, Marco A. & Nayga, Rodolfo M., "undated". "Setting up smARt weight loss goals," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 261212, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:osf:osfxxx:vyarx. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://osf.io/preprints/ .

    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.