What I Learnt About How I Learnt About Behavioral Economists
This paper is a discussion of the role of the experimental methods and the dissemination practices of behavioral economists in capturing public imagination. The paper is framed by auto biographical accounts of two episodes in my own exploration of behavioral economics as a topic of study: participat...
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doaj-e13bbb213dee458db69ec6b21b56a60a2021-08-20T11:27:03ZengSociety for Social Studies of ScienceEngaging Science, Technology, and Society2413-80532020-10-01639141010.17351/ests2020.343What I Learnt About How I Learnt About Behavioral EconomistsZara Thokozani Kamwendo0ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE, DURHAM UNIVERSITYThis paper is a discussion of the role of the experimental methods and the dissemination practices of behavioral economists in capturing public imagination. The paper is framed by auto biographical accounts of two episodes in my own exploration of behavioral economics as a topic of study: participating in a MOOC on the basics of behavioral economics and sharing my work in progress to a group of staff and students in Singapore. Drawing on Shapin and Shaffer’s notion of “virtual witnesses” (Shapin and Shaffer 1985) I develop the argument that a consequence of the dissemination practices of the Heuristics and Biases Program is the creation of both “virtual subjects” and “virtual experimenters.” I then give an account of Thaler’s use of rationality and Kuhnian paradigm shifts as a rhetorical device to persuade mainstream economists and policy makers of the value of behavioral economics and to establish the narrative of behavioral economics as critics of neo-classical economics. I argue that the reflexive approach adds to accounts of the success of behavioral economics as a story of persuasive techniques of behavioral economists embedded in their practices of experimentation and dissemination. https://estsjournal.org/index.php/ests/article/view/343/301behavioral economicsheuristics and biasesdisseminationreflexivityvirtual subject |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Zara Thokozani Kamwendo |
spellingShingle |
Zara Thokozani Kamwendo What I Learnt About How I Learnt About Behavioral Economists Engaging Science, Technology, and Society behavioral economics heuristics and biases dissemination reflexivity virtual subject |
author_facet |
Zara Thokozani Kamwendo |
author_sort |
Zara Thokozani Kamwendo |
title |
What I Learnt About How I Learnt About Behavioral Economists |
title_short |
What I Learnt About How I Learnt About Behavioral Economists |
title_full |
What I Learnt About How I Learnt About Behavioral Economists |
title_fullStr |
What I Learnt About How I Learnt About Behavioral Economists |
title_full_unstemmed |
What I Learnt About How I Learnt About Behavioral Economists |
title_sort |
what i learnt about how i learnt about behavioral economists |
publisher |
Society for Social Studies of Science |
series |
Engaging Science, Technology, and Society |
issn |
2413-8053 |
publishDate |
2020-10-01 |
description |
This paper is a discussion of the role of the experimental methods and the dissemination practices of behavioral economists in capturing public imagination. The paper is framed by auto biographical accounts of two episodes in my own exploration of behavioral economics as a topic of study: participating in a MOOC on the basics of behavioral economics and sharing my work in progress to a group of staff and students in Singapore. Drawing on Shapin and Shaffer’s notion of “virtual witnesses” (Shapin and Shaffer 1985) I develop the argument that a consequence of the dissemination practices of the Heuristics and Biases Program is the creation of both “virtual subjects” and “virtual experimenters.” I then give an account of Thaler’s use of rationality and Kuhnian paradigm shifts as a rhetorical device to persuade mainstream economists and policy makers of the value of behavioral economics and to establish the narrative of behavioral economics as critics of neo-classical economics. I argue that the reflexive approach adds to accounts of the success of behavioral economics as a story of persuasive techniques of behavioral economists embedded in their practices of experimentation and dissemination. |
topic |
behavioral economics heuristics and biases dissemination reflexivity virtual subject |
url |
https://estsjournal.org/index.php/ests/article/view/343/301 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT zarathokozanikamwendo whatilearntabouthowilearntaboutbehavioraleconomists |
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