nep-hpe  New Economics Papers on History and Philosophy of Economics
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Issue of 2019‒11‒04
six papers chosen by
Erik Thomson (University of Manitoba)
 http://ep.repec.org/pth72

[Selections by Humberto Barreto for SHOE list.]

1. Building social networks under consent: A survey
  Robert P. Gilles
2. Hermeneutical Resemblance in Rudolf Bultmann and Thich Nhat Hanh
  Joel J.T. Young
3. CHALENGING RATIONALISTIC AND OBJECTIVISTIC PERSPECTIVE OF ORGANIZATION
  Neboj?a Jani?ijevi?
4. A Happy Choice: Wellbeing as the Goal of Government
  Andrew E. Clark; Paul Frijters; Christian Krekel; Richard Layard
6. New Ecological Paradigm meets behavioral economics: On the relationship
    between environmental values and economic preferences
  Ziegler, Andreas

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1. Building social networks under consent: A survey
  Robert P. Gilles
 This survey explores the literature on game-theoretic models of network
 formation under the hypothesis of mutual consent in link formation. The
 introduction of consent in link formation imposes a coordination problem in
 the network formation process. This survey explores the conclusions from this
 theory and the various methodologies to avoid the main pitfalls. The main
 insight originates from Myerson's work on mutual consent in link formation
 and his main conclusion that the empty network (the network without any
 links) always emerges as a strong Nash equilibrium in any game-theoretic
 model of network formation under mutual consent and positive link formation
 costs. Jackson and Wolinsky introduced a cooperative framework to avoid this
 main pitfall. They devised the notion of a pairwise stable network to arrive
 at equilibrium networks that are mainly non-trivial. Unfortunately, this
 notion of pairwise stability requires coordinated action by pairs of decision
 makers in link formation. I survey the possible solutions in a purely
 non-cooperative framework of network formation under mutual consent by
 exploring potential refinements of the standard Nash equilibrium concept to
 explain the emergence of non-trivial networks. This includes the notions of
 unilateral and monadic stability. The first one is founded on advanced
 rational reasoning of individuals about how others would respond to one's
 efforts to modify the network. The latter incorporates trusting, boundedly
 rational behaviour into the network formation process. The survey is
 concluded with an initial exploration of external correlation devices as an
 alternative framework to address mutual consent in network formation.
  Date: 2019–10
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1910.11693&r=hpe

2. Hermeneutical Resemblance in Rudolf Bultmann and Thich Nhat Hanh
  Joel J.T. Young (Global Center for Advanced Studies: College Dublin, IE)
 Over the last several decades, academic theology in America has seen a
 resurgence of interest in the 20th century German-speaking theological
 movement known as “dialectical theology.†While primarily focusing on the
 theology of Swiss Reformed theologian, Karl Barth, there has also been a
 revival of curiosity in Barth’s academic rival, Rudolf Bultmann, who
 cultivated the controversial program of “demythologization.†Though the
 recovery of Bultmann’s work in English-speaking circles is historically
 valuable to our understanding of how modern theology progressed, the question
 still stands as to how it might aid our dialogue in an increasingly
 pluralistic world. Unpacking one such opportunity is the aim of this paper.
 Through dialogue with the Zen Buddhism of Thich Nhat Hanh, I show how
 different contours of Bultmann’s thought can aid us in understanding and
 approaching interreligious discourse through hermeneutical consistencies and
 resemblance. While this paper discusses several different aspects of
 Bultmann’s and Nhat Hanh’s religious thought, the consistencies and
 resemblance between the two individual thinkers are, no doubt, emblematic of
 greater Familienähnlichkeit between their respective faith traditions – a
 topic to be taken up at a later time.
  Keywords: Rudolf Bultmann, Thich Nhat Hanh, Demythologization, Zen
   Buddhism, Christianity, Dialectical Theology, Hermeneutics, Interreligious
   Dialogue
  Date: 2019–08
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:epaper:030jt&r=hpe

3. CHALENGING RATIONALISTIC AND OBJECTIVISTIC PERSPECTIVE OF ORGANIZATION
  Neboj?a Jani?ijevi? (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economics)
 Institutional theory of organizations, population ecology theory and
 organizational culture theory are three newer theories that represent
 alternative and challenge to rationalistic and objectivistic research
 paradigm in the theory of organization. After a relatively long period in
 which rationalist and objectivist theories of organizations prevailed, during
 the second half of the twentieth century three theories emerged that
 explained the structuring and functioning of organizations from a completely
 opposite viewpoint. From the 1950s to the 1970s, the dominant theoretical
 explanation of the structure and processes of all organization types,
 especially business organizations, was based on the assumption that objective
 factors and the rationality of decision makers had an impact on
 organizations. Thus, the contingency theory of organizations explained that
 the structuring and functioning of organizations resulted from the impact of
 objective, external factors (contingencies) such as environment, technology,
 stage of an organization?s life cycle and strategies. The process of
 organizations? structuring and of shaping the processes within them was
 treated as a rational decision-making process, in which the organization?s
 leader played a key role. The result of such an approach is a configurational
 perspective of organizations, according to which the organizational structure
 is actually a configuration of internally consistent components that are
 congruent to external factors. However, since the 1980s, three very
 interesting theories have emerged, representing an antipode to the prevailing
 rationalist and objectivist theories: institutional theory of organizations,
 population ecology theory and organizational culture theory. All three
 theories explain the structuring and shaping of processes within
 organizations in terms of interpretivism and social interactions, and not
 rational decision making. Unlike the rationalist and objectivist theories of
 organizations, the organizational culture theory, population ecology theory
 and institutional theory of organizations, find the ultimate source of
 organizational structure and functioning in the meaning of the reality that
 has been socially constructed. The process of organizational structuring is,
 in all three theories, a subjective process of creating meanings through
 social interactions. Accordingly, the focus of the institutional, population
 ecology and cultural theories of organizations is no longer as much on formal
 organizational structure, as was the case with the contingency theory of
 organizations, as it is on behavioral patterns, regularities in
 organizational functioning and the models of interaction within organizations.
  JEL: M10 M14
  Keywords: OrganizationContingency theoryInstitutional theoryPopulation
   ecologyOrganizational culture
  Date: 2019–07
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:9110846&r=hpe

4. A Happy Choice: Wellbeing as the Goal of Government
  Andrew E. Clark; Paul Frijters; Christian Krekel; Richard Layard
 In this article, we lay out the basic case for wellbeing as the goal of
 government. We briefly review the history of this idea, which goes back to
 the ancient Greeks and was the acknowledged ideal of the Enlightenment. We
 then discuss possible measures on which a wellbeing orientation could be
 based, emphasising the importance of acknowledging the political agency of
 citizens and thus their own evaluations of their life. We then turn to
 practicalities and consequences: how would one actually set up
 wellbeing-oriented decision-making and what difference should we expect from
 current practice? We end by discussing the current barriers to the adoption
 of wellbeing as the goal of government, both in terms of what we need to know
 more about and where the ideological barriers lay.
  JEL: D60 D70 H11 I31
  Keywords: subjective wellbeing, life satisfaction, public policy, political
   economy, social welfare
  Date: 2019–10
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1658&r=hpe

6. New Ecological Paradigm meets behavioral economics: On the relationship
    between environmental values and economic preferences
  Ziegler, Andreas
  JEL: Q50 A13 C93 D91 Q57
  Date: 2019
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc19:203562&r=hpe

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