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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2010

Vernon L. Smith
Affiliation:
George Mason University, Virginia
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Summary

Rules alone can unite an extended order. … Neither all ends pursued, nor all means used, are known or need be known to anybody, in order for them to be taken account of within a spontaneous order. Such an order forms of itself. …

Hayek (1988, pp. 19–20)

… the realist … turns his back on the whole he cannot grasp and busies himself with a fragment.

Gibran (1918; 2002, p. 55)

Experimental economics is good at measurement, testing, and discovery in studying the microeconomics of human behavior governed by the informal norms of social exchange and the more explicit rules of exchange in institutions. It has not been good at integration and interpretation within the broader context of human social and economic development. The learning from a half-century of experimental discovery will be particularly significant if we can find a way to leverage that learning into a broader understanding of the human career; otherwise, the rewards from the range of our research will be too narrowly drawn, fragmented, and of passing interest, as scholars move on to the intricate details of whatever is next. This book is an outgrowth of my struggle to obtain a larger vision of meaning in social and market economic behavior, and to communicate whatever value that process might contribute to a larger community. I know that others have similar concerns because we have shared them from time to time in passing and in depth. The picture I see is still blurred.

Type
Chapter
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Rationality in Economics
Constructivist and Ecological Forms
, pp. 1 - 12
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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  • Introduction
  • Vernon L. Smith, George Mason University, Virginia
  • Book: Rationality in Economics
  • Online publication: 18 May 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511754364.002
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  • Introduction
  • Vernon L. Smith, George Mason University, Virginia
  • Book: Rationality in Economics
  • Online publication: 18 May 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511754364.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Vernon L. Smith, George Mason University, Virginia
  • Book: Rationality in Economics
  • Online publication: 18 May 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511754364.002
Available formats
×