This paper develops a conception of personal identity for Amartya Sen's capability framework that emphasizes his self-scrutinizing aspect of the self and related concept of commitment, and compares this conception to the co1lective intentionality-based one advanced in Davis (2003c). The paper...

This paper reviews three distinct strategies in recent economics for using the concept of social identity in the explanation of individual behavior: Akerlof and Kranton’s neoclassical approach, Sen’s commitment approach, and Kirman et al.’s complexity approach. The primary focus is the...

Sen has emphasized the importance of subjecting one's choices of actions, objectives, values, and priorities to reasoned scrutiny. But how does one go about doing this? Two matters are foremost in his view: individuals do not do this in isolation and yet a reasoned scrutiny of one's actions,...

The concept of identity was introduced into the neoclassical utility maximising framework by Akerlof and Kranton in an analysis which draws directly from social psychology's social identity approach and self-categorisation theory. This paper examines their analysis, and compares the social...

This short paper discusses majority and minority views in economics regarding the value of neuroscience for economics – and thus the value of the neuroeconomics research program. It argues that neuroeconomics’ reception ultimately depends on whether economists adopt a philosophy of science...

This paper examines conceptions of the individual in recent economics (including prospect theory, preference reversal/construction approaches, social preference theory, Bacharach's team view, Ross's neuroeconomics view, and the Sugden/Bruni civil happiness approach). The first three are...