Wharton-SMU Research Center

In-House Seminar

Guest Speaker:

Robert MEYER
Professor of Marketing, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Date & Venue:
Date: 29 July 2004, Monday
Time: 4.00pm-5.00pm
Venue: Eu Tong Sen, Level 1, Seminar Room 1,
Singapore Management University
469 Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259756
(Location Map)

Topic:
Axiomatic Theories of Naive Choice Processes in Dynamic Decision Problems

About the Seminar:
Psychologists often argue that economic theory provides an unrealistic account of how consumers and firms make economic decisions. This critique is particularly salient in the case of dynamic or recurrent decision problems, where normative models of solution are quite complex, and actual behavior often departs from normative prescriptions. While quick to critique dynamic decision theory, psychologists, unfortunately, have been slow to offer an axiomatic alternative. In this seminar I will review the progress of work that has sought to close the gap by building algebraic models of how individuals actually solve three classes of dynamic decision problems: an extreme-value inference problem, a product-maintenance problem, and a recurrent earthquake-protection problem. Each of these modeling-building using experimental data to tease apart those non-normative behaviors that are evolutionarily robust—hence must be accounted for in descriptive models—from those that are likely to be transient. Given a set of such requirements, a series of algebraic axioms are then outlined that recognize actual and fully normative behavior as special cases of a general dynamic decision process.

Registration:
This seminar is free. Please register early. (Admission on a first-come-first-served basis.)
For registration, please click here (Registration closes on 28 July 2004, Wednesday)

Enquiries:
Ms. Lim Lih Yeng
Email: lylim@smu.edu.sg, Tel: 6822-0197
Ms. Priscilla Cheng
Email: priscillacheng@smu.edu.sg, Tel: 6822-0383