Salience, inductive reasoning and the emergence of conventions

Sugden, Robert (2011) Salience, inductive reasoning and the emergence of conventions. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 79 (1-2). pp. 35-47. ISSN 0167-2681

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Abstract

This paper develops Lewis's theory of conventions to show that the spontaneous emergence of conventions depends on shared conceptions of salience. It offers a reconstruction of a mode of reasoning that is compatible with the emergence of conventions, and argues that such reasoning is pragmatically rational. This is a form of non-Bayesian inductive reasoning in which an individual's private and subjective conceptions of salience can influence the inferences she makes. This mode of reasoning is then shown to be pragmatically rational in a more general sense, relevant to problems of induction discussed in the philosophy of science.

Item Type: Article
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Economics
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Economic Theory
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Sciences
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Competition Policy
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural Economics
Depositing User: Gina Neff
Date Deposited: 17 Jan 2011 15:53
Last Modified: 14 Aug 2023 15:30
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/19358
DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2011.01.026

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