Neuroeconomics as a Natural Extension of Bioeconomics: The Shifting Scope of Standard Economic Theory |
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Authors: | Jack J Vromen |
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Institution: | (1) Philosophy Department, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, 3000 DR, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | Synopsis Neuroeconomics rightly has been claimed to be a natural extension of bioeconomics. One of the things bioeconomics investigates
is what behavioral dispositions and what behavioral patterns evolutionary processes have produced. Neuroeconomics extends
this to the study of evolved mechanisms that are at work in decision-making at the neural level of the brain. The paper argues
that in another respect neuroeconomics and bioeconomics are discontinuous, however. Bioeconomics maintains that the applicability
of standard economic theory’s constrained maximization framework is not confined to human behavior. The constrained maximization
framework is believed to be suitable to describe behavior throughout the animal kingdom. By contrast, despite some minor internal
disagreements all neuroeconomists seem to agree that human behavior is predicted poorly by standard economic theory in several
social and economic situations. Neuroscience is believed to hold out the hope of an advanced understanding of when and why
this is the case.
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Keywords: | Constrained maximization Evolutionary biology Natural selection Neuroscience |
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