News

The Society for the Advancement of Behavioral
 Economics (SABE) is happy to announce that 
we will devote USD 5,000 to fund workshops 
on behavioral economics, to be held in 2019.

Proposals (2-3 pages) should include:

• Organizers and host institution
• Tentative guest speakers
• Dates, venue, etc.
• The link to the official website of the workshop
• Amount of money requested and rationale (SABE will fund no more than USD 3,000 per workshop)
• Specify the activities that will benefit PhD students

Timeline of the call:

Proposals should be submitted to workshops@sabeconomics.org no later than November 15
Successful applicants will be contacted no later than November 30

For informal inquiries, please also use the above email.

Herbert Simon Society Presents
International Conference
Heuristics in Organizations and Society

Turin, 13 rd – 14 th December, 2018
Collegio Carlo Alberto

The Herbert Simon Society brings together cognitive scientists, economists, social scientists and philosophers aiming to renew the fundamental concepts of rationality and social action. Starting from the seminal work of Herbert A. Simon in economics, psychology, computer science, organizational theory, philosophy of science, the HSS wishes to tackle the current debate about the crisis of economic and social rationality, the alternative architectures of mind, the mind-brain relations and the simulation of creativity.

• Send an abstract (up to 800 words) by 29th September 2018
• Deadline for Conference Registration: 31st October 2018

For more information: herbertsimonsociety.org

Can economists pry into the depths of the human heart?

Homo Economicus started life as a superhuman abstraction, a useful simplification for economists concerned only with externally observable behavior. Over time, the cold, calculating, cardboard cutout of a person it embodied began to be confused for a model of what people actually do.  In recent decades, behavioral economics has returned to the normative cast of H. Economicus to support the view that humans’ in-built decision-making processes, based as they are on all manner of warm-blooded factors, are biased and need correction.

As economic explorations of altruism, self-esteem, honour, shame, and other unseen psychological factors have proliferated in recent years, the discipline has edged closer to a formal accounting of the unseen motivators that drive human decision-making.  Yet a formal accounting is still a long way from being realized, because few have been prepared to think and theorize deeply about the complex and unseen ideals, commitments, loves, and allegiances nestled in the hearts of human decision makers.  The current state of economists’ understanding of how such factors play into real decision making is largely empirically driven, but not formalised into coherent systems of thought – and thus all but useless to policy-makers.  As economists, we can do better.

This Special Issue seeks papers that consider the relevance of such unseen, typically unmeasured, yet innately human factors to productivity and welfare, and hence to policy.  Included papers might look at the role of tax-paying morale in sustaining modern economies; the mechanisms through which the state can increase or decrease a population’s loyalty towards pro-social or nationalistic ideals, and the impact of this on economic efficiency; the role of education policy in delivering workers complete with internal punishment systems to promote honest behavior; or the primary mechanisms related to how love and loyalty arise, and to what economic uses they can be put by governments and organizations more broadly.  The goal of the issue is to inform the identification of unifying, pragmatic, and policy-relevant ways for economists to appraise humans’ unseen, warm-blooded motivations.

Guest editor, Gigi Foster (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia).

Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

Dear all,

We are writing to announce ​(1) a Workshop, (2) a Graduate Student Summer School on the topic of Psychological Game Theory:

• Host institution: University of Salento (Lecce)
• Location: Soleto (South of Italy)
• Venue: Atrium Kircherianum
• Dates: July 23-25, 2018 (Summer School) // July 25-27, 2018 (Workshop)
• Website: http://giuseppeattanasi.wixsite.com/index/psygames-workshop-summer

Psychological Game Theory is a formal framework for studying strategic interaction when players have belief-dependent motivations. The framework was first introduced by Geanakoplos, Pearce & Stacchetti (1989, GEB) and further developed by Battigalli & Dufwenberg (2009, JET). It has proved useful in modelling intentions-based reciprocity (the pioneer application, due to Rabin 1993, AER), emotions (e.g. anger, guilt, regret, disappointment, anxiety) and concern with others’ opinion (e.g. social respect).

The topic of the 2018 edition of the Psy-Games Workshop & Summer School will be “Modeling Emotions with Economic Theory”.

3^rd Workshop on Psychological Game Theory

25-27 July 2018, Atrium Kircherianum, Soleto (Apulia, South of Italy)

Keynote speakers:

• Pierpaolo Battigalli  (Bocconi University)
• Gary Charness  (University of California Santa Barbara)
• Giorgio Coricelli (University of California Los Angeles)
• Martin Dufwenberg  (University of Arizona & University of Gothenburg)
• Werner Güth (LUISS Rome & Max Planck Institute Bonn)
• Christian Ruff  (University of Zúrich)
• Marie-Claire Villeval  (University of Lyon)

Call for papers:

• To submit a paper for the workshop email a pdf of the abstract or full paper to giuseppe.attanasi@univ-lille1.fr by 30^th April 2018.
• Maximum number of attendants: 40 presenters.
• The workshop fee is 200 €.

The Workshop has received funding by SABE (Society for the Advancement in Behavioural Economics) and IAREP (International Association for Research in Economic Psychology).

SABE/IAREP Summer School on Behavioural Game Theory: Psychological Games

23-25 July 2018, Atrium Kircheerianum, Soleto (Apulia, South of Italy)

Taught by:

• Giuseppe Attanasi  (University of Lille)
• Pierpaolo Battigalli  (Bocconi University)
• Giorgio Coricelli (University of California Los Angeles)
• Martin Dufwenberg  (University of Arizona & University of Gothenburg)
• Werner Güth (LUISS Rome & Max Planck Institute Bonn)
• Christian Ruff  (University of Zurich)
• Alec Smith (Virginia Tech)

The summer school will entail a mixture of lectures and students’ presentations. Lectures will cover fundamental results in psychological game theory, specific models of preferences (e.g. guilt-aversion, reciprocity, anger), experimental tests, cognitive measures and applications. Students working on related research will present and receive feedback. Students will be invited to attend (free of charge) the workshop on psychological games if they wish.

• The summer school costs 200 €.
• Maximum number of attendants: 40 graduate students.

To apply for the summer school email giuseppe.attanasi@univ-lille1.fr by 30^th April 2018.

SABE / IAREP scholarships

10 SABE/IAREP scholarships of 400 € each are available. In particular:

• 5 scholarships (especially meant for Graduate students in Behavioural Economics) funded by SABE (Society for the Advancement in Behavioural Economics)
• 5 scholarships (especially meant for Graduate students in Economic Psychology) funded by IAREP (International Association for Research in Economic Psychology)

How to apply

To apply for a scholarship email the following to giuseppe.attanasi@univ-lille1.fr by 30^th April 2018.

1. A letter of motivation
2. A one page CV
3. A reference letter from your advisor

We are looking forward to having you join us in the South of Italy this summer!

Giuseppe Attanasi, Pierpaolo Battigalli, Martin Dufwenberg & Amrish Patel