Daniel Hausman

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This event is jointly organised with the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, LSE

6.30-8.00pm | Monday 13 December 2010
NAB.1.07, New Academic Building, LSE

Speaker
Daniel Hausman, Herbert A. Simon Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Preferences are the central notion in mainstream economic theory, yet economists say little about what preferences are. This talk argued that preferences in mainstream positive economics are comparative evaluations with respect to everything relevant to value or choice, and it argued against three mistaken views of preferences: (1) that they are matters of taste, concerning which rational assessment is inappropriate, (2) that preferences coincide with judgments of expected self-interested benefit, and (3) that preferences can be defined in terms of choices.