*NEUROECONOMICS: HYPE OR HOPE?*
Erasmus University Rotterdam, 20?22 November 2008
Hosted by EIPE (Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics)

*Call For Papers*

After having operated as a separate science for decades, economics is now
opening up its boundaries to other disciplines. One such discipline is
cognitive neuroscience. The nascent field of neuroeconomics is a booming
business. Worldwide, more than a dozen of new Centers for Neuroeconomics
Studies equipped with high tech brain scanners have been founded within the
past few years. Several papers on neuroeconomics already found their way
into prestigious academic journals such as Science and Nature. At the same
time neuroeconomics meets resistance among economists (as perhaps best
expressed in Gul and Pesendorfer's (2008) "The Case for Mindless
Economics"). Many economists and methodologists are skeptical about the
contribution neuroeconomics can make to economics. They question the
relevance of data about decision-making processes at the neural level for
addressing the sorts of questions economics is traditionally interested in.

Is neuroeconomics a flimsy and fleeting hype in economics that is
overselling itself? Or is neuroeconomics here to stay, offering the hope
that economics will finally be transformed into a modern science?

The Conference aims to offer a platform for discussing methodological and
philosophical issues raised by the advent of neuroeconomics. More
specifically, we invite paper submissions on the following topics:

-    What standards of scientific respectability and progress are implied
(or invoked) in the claim that neuroeconomics will finally move economics
into its proper standing of a modern science?
-    What consequences does neuroeconomics have for the subject matter,
scope and method of economics?
-    How do the different disciplines of economics and of cognitive
neuroscience relate to each other in neuroeconomics? Does the relationship
between economics on the one hand and cognitive (neuro)science on the other
need to be redefined?
-    Do we first need to know how different levels of analysis (e.g. of
observable choice behavior, of its underlying computational algorithms and
of the neural "hardware" in which they are implemented) relate to each other
before we can tell how neuroeconomic evidence and findings bear on
economics? If so, what levels are at stake and how are they related?
-    What light can insights from contemporary philosophy of mind shed on
the topics raised here?
-    How is neural activity in people related to the various institutions in
which they function? How can an improved understanding of neural processes
inform institutional analysis?
-    What is the role and place of evolutionary theory in neuroeconomics
 *
Keynote Speakers*

?    Ariel Rubinstein (Tel Aviv University, New York University)
?    Paul J. Zak (Claremont Graduate University)
?    Don Ross (University of Alabama Birmingham, University of Cape Town)
?    John Davis (University of Amsterdam, Marquette University)
?    Uskali M?ki (University of Helsinki)
?    Jack Vromen (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
?    Francesco Guala (University of Exeter, San Raffaele University)

*Extended abstracts (2 pages) should be sent to [log in to unmask]

Deadline: 1 August 2008*

Scientific Committee:
Jack Vromen (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Caterina Marchionni (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Julian Reiss (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Frans van Winden (University of Amsterdam)

For more information please visit our website:
http://www.eur.nl/fw/english/eipe/eipe_conferences/

Julian Reiss