Economic Biology and Behavioral Economics: The Prophesy of Alfred Marshall explores the prophesy of Alfred Marshall, the grand synthesizer of neoclassical economics, that the "Mecca of the economist lies in economic biology".
The book presents the proof of that prophesy through examination and establishment of the fundamental biological science necessary and then applying that science to the examination of current economic theory. In doing so, the book focuses primarily on the fundamentals of neoclassical economic theory which is the reigning theory and the general framework of which is taught as "science" in first courses in college economics. These courses are at best an idealization, if not an ideology, of the disciplinepresented to fresh minds misleadingly as confirmed science. The book examines the bases and the history of these idealizations, points to the sources of their error from the biological perspective and suggests a path forward for the discipline. Through this process, the book demonstrates the power of the biological perspective anticipated by Marshall.
This book provides invaluable reading for anyone interested in the future of economics and economic theory, and particularly those interested in behavioral economics and neuroeconomics.
Economic Biology and Behavioral Economics: The Prophesy of Alfred Marsh all explores the prophesy of Alfred Marshall, the grand synthesizer of neoclassical economics, that the "Mecca of the economist lies in economic biology".
Chapter 1: Introduction Part 1: The Biological Fundamentals
Chapter
2: Foundations: Evolutionary Brain Science in the 21st Century
Chapter 3:
Our Mammalian Heritage: A Dual Motive Neurobehavioural Model
Chapter 4: The
Dynamic Algorithms of Social Behaviour
Chapter 5: The Physiology of Social
Behaviour
Chapter 6: The Organic, Homeostatic Equation of our Neural Architecture
Chapter 7: Physics vs. Social Science: Some Differences Part 2: Biological
Linkages to the Discipline of Economics
Chapter 8: Family, Gift, and
Market
Chapter 9: Adam Smith and the Market
Chapter 10: The Invisible
Hand as a Neural Algorithm
Chapter 11: General Equilibrium Theory: From
Newtonian Physics to Organic Dynamics
Chapter 12: The Social Brain and the
Idealized Version of Price Theory
Chapter 13: Calculus and Neural
Algorithms in Price Theory
Chapter 14: Further Application of the Basic
Homeostatic Equation to Economics
Chapter 15: Self-Interest and the Fallacy
of Self-Reference
Chapter 16: Hayek: Wishful Thinking and a not so
Spontaneous Order
Chapter 17: Nash: Modeling Equilibrium with Beautiful
Mind, Beautiful Equations Part 3: The Wider Context
Chapter 18: The
Emergence and Promise of Neuroeconomics
Chapter 19: The Larger Context: The
Stiff Upper Lip, Original Sin, and Western Science
Chapter 20: Evolutionary
Neuroethology and Inclusive Fitness
Chapter 21: Social Exchange and the
Structure of Society
Chapter 22: Conclusion
Gerald A. Cory, Jr., Former Senior Fellow, Graduate Studies and Research, San Jose State University (Retired)
