Smart Economic Decision-Making in a Complex World

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Language: English

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302 p. · 15x22.8 cm · Paperback

Smart Economic Decision-Making in a Complex World is a fresh and reality-based perspective on decision-making with significant implications for analysis, self-understanding and policy. The book examines the conditions under which smart people generate outcomes that improve their place of work, their household and society. Within this work, the curious reader will find interesting open questions on many fascinating areas of current economic debate, including, the role of realistic assumptions robust model building, understanding how and when non-neoclassical behavior is best practice, why the assumption of smart decision-makers is best to understand and explain our economies and societies, and under what conditions individuals can make the best possible choices for themselves and society at large.

Additional sections cover when and how efficiency is achieved, why inefficiencies can persist, when and how consumer welfare is maximized, and what benchmarks should be used to determine efficiency and rationality.

1. Introduction: Smart thinking in the real world of complexity2. The evolution of decision-making: Why institutions and capabilities matters3. How complexity affects decision-making4. Freedom of choice in a complex world5. Understanding rational inefficiency: A scientific basis for economic failure and success6. How consumers can achieve freedom of choice: When consumers are truly sovereign7. Inside the black box of the firm: Why choice, power and preferences matter for productivity and efficiency8. How smart people can be involuntarily employment when misguided policy dominates decision-making9. Why financial literacy matters for socio-economic wellbeing10. How labour markets really work

Under(graduate) students in economics and beyond who are interested in decision-making, the process of decision-making, decision making environments, and how real people act in the real world should be interested in this book.

Morris Altman is the Dean of the University of Dundee School of Business and Chair Professor of Behavioral and Institutional Economics and Co-operatives. He is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, earning his PhD in economics from McGill University in 1984. Morris was a former visiting scholar at Cambridge (Elected Visiting Fellow), Canterbury, New Zealand (Erskine Professor), Cornell, Duke, Harvard, Hebrew, Stirling, and Stanford University. He has published well over 120 refereed papers and given over 250 international academic presentations and has also published 19 books in economic theory, co-operatives, behavioral economics, economic growth, ethics, economic history, sustainability, and public policy. He is past president of the Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE) and the Association for Social Economics and is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Review of Behavioral Economics. He also served on research committees of the International Co-operative Alliance.
  • Makes the case for ‘smart and rational’ decision-making as a context-dependent rational process that is framed by socio-cultural environment and conditioned by institutional capacities
  • Explains how incorporation of the ‘smart’ decision-maker concept into economic thought improves our understanding of how, why and when people generate certain outcomes
  • Explores how economic efficiency can be achieved, individual preferences realized, and social welfare maximized through the use of ‘smart and rational’ approaches