The September 18 issue of The New Yorker contains a short introduction to neuroeconomics. It is a nice enough article without to many obvious errors (the fact that the author attributes the striatum to the limbic system instead of to the basal ganglia is probably only of concequence to anatomists!). It tells the now familiar story of how the classical view of homo economicus has been challenged by the experimental work of Kahneman, Tversky and other members of the so-called behavioural economics field. It then goes through some of the recent imaging experiments on risk aversion, punishment of unfair collaborators, and trust, with quotes from several of the key neuroeconomics players: Colin Camerer, George Loewenstein, David Laibson, Jonathan Cohen, Ernst Fehr, and Paul Glimcher.
To people already acquainted with the field the most interesting parts of the article is probably a section where Laibson and Cohen ponders possible policy implications of neuroeconomics research, and a section where Cohen and Glimcher are reported to nurture opposing views of how “emotion” and “cognition” interacts in decision-making situations. Briefly, Cohen views emotion and cognition as two separate systems that may at times “compete” for control, whereas Glimcher disputes such a clear-cut separation. Personally, I would have loved to hear more about this issue.
Here are two links to some earlier posts on neuroeconomics:
To people already acquainted with the field the most interesting parts of the article is probably a section where Laibson and Cohen ponders possible policy implications of neuroeconomics research, and a section where Cohen and Glimcher are reported to nurture opposing views of how “emotion” and “cognition” interacts in decision-making situations. Briefly, Cohen views emotion and cognition as two separate systems that may at times “compete” for control, whereas Glimcher disputes such a clear-cut separation. Personally, I would have loved to hear more about this issue.
Here are two links to some earlier posts on neuroeconomics:
Risk aversion is rewarding!
Neurofinance
-Martin