REAPPRAISAL OF RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY
Katalin Martinás1 and Ágoston Reguly2
1Department of Atomic Physics, Eötvös Loránd UniversityBudapest, Hungary
2c/o Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Budapest, Hungary
INDECS 11(1), 14-28, 2013 DOI 10.7906/indecs.11.1.2 Full text available here. |
Received: 6 September 2012 |
ABSTRACT
The value of rational choice theory (RCT) for the social sciences has long been contested. Much time has been spent by economists and critics on the pervasive but elusive concept of rationality. The critiques mainly challenge the basis of the utility theorem. Several articles on the misuse of mathematics in economics have already appeared in the literature. As N. Bouleau stated, "On several occasions, however, one feels that the criticism is that the math is being misused and should be developed in some other direction (e.g. a statistical analysis of the financial tendencies that polarize wealth and income, or a study of the positive feedback mechanisms, etc.). This leaves certain dissatisfaction - on a philosophical level." The aim of this paper is to present a decision theory, yields intention (logos) and valuation (existence). Here we present a new mathematical representation of RCT, which leads to a dynamic economic theory. We discuss the philosophical or meta-economical problems, which are needed for the successful applications of mathematics.
KEY WORDS
rational choice theory, dynamic economic theory
CLASSIFICATION
JEL: D51
PACS: 89.65.Gh