COMPUTABLE ECONOMICS: RECONSTRUCTING THE NONCONSTRUCTIVE

In this paper, a case for Velupillai's Computable Economics is made. It is claimed that the methodological approach and results (theorems) of classical recursion theory and constructive mathematics should be at the foundation of theorizing in economics. The major point is that Turing machine equivalent computations set an upper bound to rational choice that cannot be circumvented with a non-rigorous and teleological "as if" assumption. Clearly, given that the optimal choices are almost always not constructible the paradigm of rational behavior as optimizing behavior is deprived of any practical, operational or theoretical meaning. It is Computable Economics that provides the proper foundation for a formally rigorous and meaningful definition of rationality.