We're All Behavioral Economists Now
16 Pages Posted: 6 Mar 2018
Date Written: February 26, 2018
Abstract
Behavioral economics has long defined itself in opposition to neoclassical economics, but recent developments suggest a synthesis may be on the horizon. In particular, a number of economists have argued that behavioral factors can be incorporated into standard theory, and that the days of behavioral economics therefore are numbered. This paper explores the proposed synthesis and argues that it is distinctly behavioral – not neoclassical. Far from indicating that behavioral economics as a stand-alone research program is over, the proposed synthesis represents the consummate conversion of neoclassical economists into behavioral ones.
Keywords: behavioral economics, history of contemporary economics, economic methodology
JEL Classification: B21, B41, D03
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation