This book proposes a new approach to economics, management and organization that should help in making economic organization ‘wise’, ‘innovative’ and ‘robust’ in an uncertain and risky world. Although the modern economy and society is ‘knowledge intensive’, Anna Grandori argues that the dominant economic, organizational and behavioural models neglect to a large extent the problem of valid knowledge construction and effective knowledge governance. The book integrates inputs from economics and behavioural science with insights from the philosophy of knowledge to define new micro-foundations: neither a calculative, deductive and omniscient ‘rational actor’; nor an experiential, adaptive and biased ‘behavioural actor’; but a knowledgeable and imaginative ‘epistemic actor’. The implications for contracts and organizations, sustained also by insights from law, are shown to be far reaching, including a new view of the nature of the firm as an entity-establishing agreement under which to discover uses of resources under uncertainty, and as a democratic institution.
Robert J Aumann has received numerous prizes, including the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for 2005.With his 1976 paper, 'Agreeing to Disagree', Robert Aumann pioneered the subject of interactive epistemology: the study of what people know, and what they know about what others know. Since then, the discipline has burgeoned enormously. This book documents Aumann's work leading to the 1976 paper and his subsequent contributions to the discipline. The scientific controversies emanating from his work are also included.
Epinets presents a new way to think about social networks, which focuses on the knowledge that underlies our social interactions. Guiding readers through the web of beliefs that networked individuals have about each other and probing into what others think, this book illuminates the deeper character and influence of relationships among social network participants. Drawing on artificial intelligence, the philosophy of language, and epistemic game theory, Moldoveanu and Baum formulate a lexicon and array of conceptual tools that enable readers to explain, predict, and shape the fabric and behavior of social networks. With an innovative and strategically-minded look at the assumptions that enable and clog our networks, this book lays the groundwork for a leap forward in our understanding of human relations.
Democracy has many attractive features. Among them is its tendency to track the truth, at least under certain idealized assumptions. That basic result has been known since 1785, when Condorcet published his famous jury theorem. But that theorem has typically been dismissed as little more than a mathematical curiosity, with assumptions too restrictive for it to apply to the real world. In An Epistemic Theory of Democracy, Goodin and Spiekermann propose different ways of interpreting voter independence and competence to make jury theorems more generally applicable. They go on to assess a wide range of familiar political practices and alternative institutional arrangements, to determine what constellation of them might most fully exploit the truth-tracking potential of majoritarian democracy. The book closes with a discussion of how epistemic democracy might be undermined, using as case studies the Trump and Brexit campaigns.
This book proposes a new approach to economics, management and organization that should help in making economic organization ‘wise’, ‘innovative’ and ‘robust’ in an uncertain and risky world. Although the modern economy and society is ‘knowledge intensive’, Anna Grandori argues that the dominant economic, organizational and behavioural models neglect to a large extent the problem of valid knowledge construction and effective knowledge governance. The book integrates inputs from economics and behavioural science with insights from the philosophy of knowledge to define new micro-foundations: neither a calculative, deductive and omniscient ‘rational actor’; nor an experiential, adaptive and biased ‘behavioural actor’; but a knowledgeable and imaginative ‘epistemic actor’. The implications for contracts and organizations, sustained also by insights from law, are shown to be far reaching, including a new view of the nature of the firm as an entity-establishing agreement under which to discover uses of resources under uncertainty, and as a democratic institution.
Networks powered by algorithms are pervasive. Major contemporary technology trends - Internet of Things, Big Data, Digital Platform Power, Blockchain, and the Algorithmic Society - are manifestations of this phenomenon. The internet, which once seemed an unambiguous benefit to society, is now the basis for invasions of privacy, massive concentrations of power, and wide-scale manipulation. The algorithmic networked world poses deep questions about power, freedom, fairness, and human agency. The influential 1997 Federal Communications Commission whitepaper “Digital Tornado” hailed the “endless spiral of connectivity” that would transform society, and today, little remains untouched by digital connectivity. Yet fundamental questions remain unresolved, and even more serious challenges have emerged. This important collection, which offers a reckoning and a foretelling, features leading technology scholars who explain the legal, business, ethical, technical, and public policy challenges of building pervasive networks and algorithms for the benefit of humanity. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
F. A. Hayek and the Epistemology of Politics is an exploration of a problem that has largely been ignored: the problem of policymaker ignorance, and the limits of political epistemology. Scott Scheall explores Hayek's attitude to the philosophy of science and political philosophy.
ÔThis excellent volume brings together some of the most interesting writings on economic organization. It covers a vast range of topics that fall under the heading of economic organization, and most if not all aspects of a variety of organizational economics and organization theories are presented. Interestingly, this book also extends beyond the more traditional approaches informed by economics and organization theory as it broadens the horizon of the field by including relevant contributions from economic sociology, cognitive psychology, law, and strategic management. Given its breadth and depth, this volume will become one of the standard reference books that will inspire both theoretical and empirical research.Õ Ð John Hagedoorn, Maastricht University, The Netherlands ÔThis important new Handbook of Economic Organization is a highly successful attempt to integrate economic and organization theory. Anna Grandori, who is herself a leading scholar located at the boundaries of economics and organization theory, is to be congratulated on doing a superb job bringing together such a high profile group of internationally acknowledged scholars. Each of the essays in the book are original and contribute to demonstrating the valuable insights that economics can make to our understanding of organization and organizational design. Anna GrandoriÕs introductory and concluding chapters are not only excellent audits of the current state of our knowledge in this field but they also give a strong sense of direction for the possible futures of the discipline. Anna Grandori is not afraid to face head on some of the more philosophical issues relating to ÒorganizationÓ as an object of study and is to be commended for doing so. The economics of organization is a new, exciting and developing field and the essays in this book will help to shape the research agenda that will take this emergent discipline to its next stage.Õ Ð Peter M. Jackson, University of Leicester, UK ÔThis sweeping, comprehensive volume is a signal effort in building bridges between economics and organization theory. With a stellar cast of contributors, it will both inspire and provoke scholars with its grand amibitions, and generate considerable attention and debate. A remarkable effort by Anna Grandori.Õ Ð Walter W. Powell, Stanford University, US ÔAnna Grandori has astutely organized the commissioned chapters of an intellectually diverse set of scholars into an absolutely outstanding contribution that both defines the current state of organizational economics and points the perceptive reader toward an exciting intellectual future. From traditional research areas to the newest topics of interest, the chapters chart the current boundaries of the field. The chapters are filled with gems of insight across several distinct levels of analysis, whether it is a discussion of organizational design, or psychological economics or innovation or the organization as language, the discussions are contemporary, comprehensive and challenging. No serious scholar of organizational economics should be without this book.Õ Ð Richard N. Osborn, Wayne State University, US This comprehensive and groundbreaking Handbook integrates economic and organization theories to help elucidate the design and evolution of economic organization. Economic organization is regarded both as a subject of inquiry and as an emerging disciplinary field in its own right, integrating insights from economics, organization theory, strategy and management, economic sociology and cognitive psychology. The contributors, who share this integrated approach, are distinguished scholars at the productive peak in their fields. Each original, state-of-the art chapter not only addresses foundational issues, but also identifies key issues for future research. This original and wide-ranging Handbook will be a useful and thought-provoking read for academics, students and researchers in the fields of organization, management and economics.
The social sciences, especially economics, management, and organizational science, are experiencing a tremendous renewed interest for their epistemological and methodological statutes, as witnessed by the many books and specialized journals established during the last two decades. Relational Methodologies and Epistemology in the Economics and Management Sciences identifies and presents the four main network-based methodologies including network analysis, Boolean network simulation modeling, artificial neural network simulation modeling, and agent-based simulation modeling in addition to their conceptual-epistemological implications and concrete applications within the social and natural sciences. Featuring a critical assessment of relational methodologies and their practical applications, this timely publication is ideal for use by corporate R&D departments, researchers, theorists, and graduate-level students.
"'The Cult of the Market: Economic Fundamentalism and its Discontents' disputes the practical value of the shallow, all-encompassing, dogmatic, economic fundamentalism espoused by policy elites in recent public policy debates, along with their gross simplifications and sacred rules. Economics cannot provide a convincing overarching theory of government action or of social action more generally. Furthermore, mainstream economics fails to get to grips with the economic system as it actually operates. It advocates a more overtly experimental, eclectic and pragmatic approach to policy development which takes more seriously the complex, interdependent, evolving nature of society and the economy. Importantly, it is an outlook that recognises the pervasive influence of asymmetries of wealth, power and information on bargaining power and prospects throughout society. The book advocates a major reform of the teaching of economics"--Provided by publisher.
