According to the new school, neoclassical economic theory is based on a false conception of human nature and must be replaced with a more realistic conception. As Thaler and Sunstein put it in Nudge, economic theory and policy needs to be based on “Humans”, not “Econs.” I cheered when I first read these lines and looked forward to learning about the new improved conception of human nature, which presumably would be informed by evolutionary theory. I was disappointed. My colleagues such as Herb, Sam, and Ernst confirmed my own impression: They appreciated the relevance of evolution but were a tiny minority among behavioral and experimental economists, who in turn were a tiny minority among neoclassical economists. Modern evolutionary theory was having virtually no impact on currently economic theory and policy.
It is my great pleasure to report that my latest book, Ultrasociety, has been published. It is now available on the Amazon as an e-book (Kindle). Once we check the proof copy, you will also be able…
Human beings, notes Sam Bowles, a Research Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, are complex, psychological beings given to all sorts of motivations well beyond naked self-interest. That might be news to the economics profession, which posits a one-dimensional image of 'homo economicus', a rational, utility-maximizing agent, largely driven by the so-called "invisible hand" of the marketplace. Incorporating the disciplines of a multiplicity of social sciences, Bowles produces compelling evidence that self-interested financial incentives can in fact produce behavior that is inefficient and violates a society's morality.
by Frank Estrada The modern world is full of myths. I’m not talking about Greek legends or medieval lore, but the shared stories and constructs underpinning our beliefs and behaviours.
We all have a spectrum of positive and negative factors, both nature and nurture, that affect our ability to achieve things. But we all face a similar spectrum of factors affecting our ability to be virtuous. If you give to charity, or volunteer a lot, or are a good father or husband, or are honest, or are kind, etc, is this about what you choose to do and the actions you choose to take, or about factors that are outside of your control? Are these behaviors just about how your parents raised you, the community you grew up in, and importantly, how behaving in these ways makes you feel? Why should moral accomplishments be chalked up to our free will and choices while economic and intellectual ones be “legitimate accomplishment”?
Across the board, the more CEOs get paid, the worse their companies do over the next three years, according to extensive new research. This is true whether they’re CEOs at the highest end of the pay spectrum or the lowest. “The more CEOs are paid, the worse the firm does over the next three years, as far as stock performance and even accounting performance,” says one of the authors of the study, Michael Cooper of the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business.
It's been known that, in fields of work that require cognition, being paid higher amounts actually decreases production and overall performance. The conclusion that was reached in the study (which was done in Harvard and replicated in India) is that you pay people in top, cognitive positions enough money to make it not be a concern for them in order to maximize productivity. The same study also found that, for menial tasks, being paid more increased productivity and performance.
If you want to figure out how to configure compensation packages in your company to maximize performance, here is the data to show you the general principles of what needs to be done. Minimum wages are good, but too high of a minimum wage will kill small companies and start ups. Once you have a solid revenue stream established, it makes sense, based on the research, to divvy up the funds equitably amongst the white collar and blue collar employees, such that the white collar folks, especially on top, get paid a smaller ratio in proportion to the blue collar workers. After all, you can only have so much wealth and derive so much well being from that wealth. What's the point of spoiling productivity in your own company for the sake of it, let alone, for the sake of the whole economy that will benefit from having wealth be significantly more equitably distributed to all of those who produce the wealth?
It's not like a McDonalds or Starbucks job is actually all that easy a job to do. Those who think otherwise clearly never worked or have forgotten what it was like to work in cramped, hot, fast paced environments dealing with the general public.
The science is there. Whether anyone will listen to it without some coercion is another issue.
Visit sustainableman.org to explore the world of sustainability. Visit drgabormate.com/ for more from Dr. Gabor Maté "We do not see the world as it is, ...
Of course, the biggest problem behind a revolutionary new investment fund dictated by computer code could well be human nature. According to a research report from cryptocurrency entrepreneur Dino Mark, ethereum researcher Vlad Zamfir, and Cornell University professor Emin Gün Sirer published May 27, the Distributed Autonomous Organization (DAO), a new crowdfunding project that's raised more tha
Who or what is a human being? This question has been answered over the centuries in very diverse ways. The human being has been presented as a divine entity, descended from higher spheres to the earth; as a highly developped animal, with a long evolutionary history; or as the result of an accidental combination of atoms. And nowadays the human being is seen as a very sophisticated computer, capable of complex mental behavior, but still fundamentally material, if we are to believe the leading philosophers of consciousness. The search for an ultimate answer to the question of the essence of human nature seems to be doomed from the start.
When Jimmy Wales, a refugee from options trading, set out to create an encyclopedia online, he thought first of the Britanica model, except with volunteers. He assigned articles to professional experts, and established panels for …
Share the love in your city. Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/th3toolbox Directed/Edited by: @ThomasReiten (twitter) and @Reiten (Instagram) Produced by: @k...
The world capitalist economic system has become so dysfunctional in the 21st Century that it cannot be defended rationally, but requires a particular moral/political ideology grounded in the assumption that human beings are fundamentally to be...
Modern technology provides us with the means of our downfall, but natural moral psychology does not provide us with the means to prevent it. Moral enhancement of humankind is needed for a way out of this predicament.
He doesn't have time for the economics of selfishness. Nipun Mehta's work is all about a fundamental question we've all asked at one point. Are humans inherently good to one another, or are we inherently selfish?
Human nature is not what we have been told. I couldn’t contain my excitement while watching this video because this is what I have always felt to be true. Not to mention it is now backed by a legitimate study!
"100,000 years ago, humans, aided by much larger brains and by an advanced form of communication, created communities that could hold down not only domination behaviours by alpha individuals, but any other behaviour they identified as being directly or potentially deleterious to members of the group."
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