This paper deals with the evidential value of neuroeconomic experiments for the triangulation of economically relevant phenomena. We examine the case of social preferences, which involves bringing together evidence from behavioural experiments, neuroeconomic experiments, and observational studies from other social sciences. We present an account of triangulation and identify the conditions under which neuroeconomic evidence is diverse in the way required for successful triangulation. We also show that the successful triangulation of phenomena does not necessarily afford additional confirmation to general (...) theories about those phenomena. (shrink)

Sei seduto di fronte allo schermo di un computer. Utilizzando il mouse, puoi scegliere fra due bottoni di colore (da sinistra a destra) Rosso e Blu. Nel frattempo altri due giocatori stanno affrontando la stessa decisione. Se sceglierete lo stesso colore, guadagnerete ciascuno dieci gettoni sperimentali, che saranno convertiti in denaro alla fine dell’esperimento. Purtroppo dovrete decidere simultaneamente, senza la possibilità di comunicare con gli altri membri del gruppo. Sai anche che ripe...

David Lewis famously proposed to model conventions as solutions to coordination games, where equilibrium selection is driven by precedence, or the history of play. A characteristic feature of Lewis Conventions is that they are intrinsically nonnormative. Some philosophers have argued that for this reason they miss a crucial aspect of our folk notion of convention. It is doubtful however that Lewis was merely analysing a folk concept. I illustrate how his theory can (and must) be assessed using empirical data, and (...) argue that it does indeed miss some important aspects of real-world conventions. I conclude that whether Lewis Conventions exist or not depends on how closely they approximate real-world behaviour, and whether we have any alternative theory that does a better job at explaining the phenomena. (shrink)