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Elgar Companion to Herbert Simon
Honoring the life and work of Herbert Simon, this illuminating Companion provides an in-depth survey of one of the most prolific social scientists of our age. Mirroring the breadth of Simon’s studies, chapters analyze his contributions to artificial intelligence, economics, entrepreneurship, management, psychology and other fields.
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Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
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Honoring the life and work of Herbert Simon, this illuminating Companion provides an in-depth survey of one of the most prolific social scientists of our age. Mirroring the breadth of Simon’s studies, chapters analyze his contributions to artificial intelligence, economics, entrepreneurship, management, psychology and other fields.
The comprehensive book outlines how Herbert Simon came to be the only person to receive both the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics and the Turing Award in Computer Science. Bounded rationality, satisficing and heuristic search are just a few of his seminal ideas that pioneered behavioral economics and artificial intelligence. Elucidating how Simon freed the study of human behavior from the dictates of subjective expected utility theory and Bayesian theory, chapters discuss how he instead promoted the development of empirically based theories on the behavior of individuals, organizations and machines. Interdisciplinary contributors thoughtfully explore his groundbreaking ideas, examining Simon’s influence on their own work and even their personal outlook on life.
This Companion enables the ideas of Herbert Simon to live on. It is a foundational resource for scholars of disciplines such as cognitive science, entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, behavioral and experimental economics, econometrics, economic psychology, industrial organization, and public administration and management.
The comprehensive book outlines how Herbert Simon came to be the only person to receive both the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics and the Turing Award in Computer Science. Bounded rationality, satisficing and heuristic search are just a few of his seminal ideas that pioneered behavioral economics and artificial intelligence. Elucidating how Simon freed the study of human behavior from the dictates of subjective expected utility theory and Bayesian theory, chapters discuss how he instead promoted the development of empirically based theories on the behavior of individuals, organizations and machines. Interdisciplinary contributors thoughtfully explore his groundbreaking ideas, examining Simon’s influence on their own work and even their personal outlook on life.
This Companion enables the ideas of Herbert Simon to live on. It is a foundational resource for scholars of disciplines such as cognitive science, entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, behavioral and experimental economics, econometrics, economic psychology, industrial organization, and public administration and management.
Critical Acclaim
‘We all owe a lot to the work of Herbert Simon. This innovative Companion describes how his thought leadership continues to inspire research in behavioral economics, cognitive psychology, and Artificial Intelligence today.’
– Iris Bohnet, former Academic Dean Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Kennedy School, US
‘This essential Companion explores Herbert Simon''s profound contributions to a variety of fields, some of which he helped to found. Encouraging readers to adopt a “Simonian lens”, it invites reflection on his ideas and inspires a fresh outlook on bounded rationality. An often personal homage, it ensures the vibrancy and impact of Simon''s legacy.’
– Ralph Hertwig, Leibniz Prize 2017 and Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
‘Herbert Simon remains a father figure to the social sciences. These chapters build on Simon’s work and show how relevant his thinking is to the fields of economics, psychology, decision-making and management, and artificial intelligence. The book is a rich source of ideas: Simon for the twenty-first century.’
– Mervyn King, former Governor of the Bank of England and co-author of Radical Uncertainty
‘With the astonishing richness and variety of his gifts and the commensurate diversity of the fields to which he made lasting contributions, Herb Simon calls to mind the redoubtable John von Neuman. Neither can be said to have contended contented themselves with “satisficing”. If Simon preached bounded rationality, he practiced unbounded creativity.’
– Stevan Harnad, University of Southampton, UK
‘The discoveries and intuitions of Herb Simon, one of the intellectual giants of the Twentieth Century, continue to be a fertile source of advancements in multiple fields - psychology, economics, political and organization theory, artificial intelligence and computer science. This book witnesses such fecundity, flagging several directions of exploration, including, among others, the nature and importance of heuristics for both behaviours and cognition, the analogies and difference between minds and computers, the evolutionary role of quasi-decomposable systems. To be read.’
– Giovanni Dosi, Institute of Economics, Scuola Superiore Sant''Anna, Pisa, Italy
‘There are very few geniuses in psychology, economics, and computer science; but Herbert A. Simon was perhaps unique in history in being an acknowledged genius in all three fields. It is little wonder that his work has been cited almost half-a-million times! I am so pleased that Edward Elgar is publishing this volume in honor of Simon''s work, with three highly distinguished editors. This book will be a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the intellectual antecedents of so much of the scholarly and other work being done in these three fields, and allied fields, today. What a great tribute to Herb Simon, one of the scholars I admire most in the world, and whom I had the privilege of knowing personally.’
– Robert J Sternberg, Cornell University, New York, US
– Iris Bohnet, former Academic Dean Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Kennedy School, US
‘This essential Companion explores Herbert Simon''s profound contributions to a variety of fields, some of which he helped to found. Encouraging readers to adopt a “Simonian lens”, it invites reflection on his ideas and inspires a fresh outlook on bounded rationality. An often personal homage, it ensures the vibrancy and impact of Simon''s legacy.’
– Ralph Hertwig, Leibniz Prize 2017 and Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
‘Herbert Simon remains a father figure to the social sciences. These chapters build on Simon’s work and show how relevant his thinking is to the fields of economics, psychology, decision-making and management, and artificial intelligence. The book is a rich source of ideas: Simon for the twenty-first century.’
– Mervyn King, former Governor of the Bank of England and co-author of Radical Uncertainty
‘With the astonishing richness and variety of his gifts and the commensurate diversity of the fields to which he made lasting contributions, Herb Simon calls to mind the redoubtable John von Neuman. Neither can be said to have contended contented themselves with “satisficing”. If Simon preached bounded rationality, he practiced unbounded creativity.’
– Stevan Harnad, University of Southampton, UK
‘The discoveries and intuitions of Herb Simon, one of the intellectual giants of the Twentieth Century, continue to be a fertile source of advancements in multiple fields - psychology, economics, political and organization theory, artificial intelligence and computer science. This book witnesses such fecundity, flagging several directions of exploration, including, among others, the nature and importance of heuristics for both behaviours and cognition, the analogies and difference between minds and computers, the evolutionary role of quasi-decomposable systems. To be read.’
– Giovanni Dosi, Institute of Economics, Scuola Superiore Sant''Anna, Pisa, Italy
‘There are very few geniuses in psychology, economics, and computer science; but Herbert A. Simon was perhaps unique in history in being an acknowledged genius in all three fields. It is little wonder that his work has been cited almost half-a-million times! I am so pleased that Edward Elgar is publishing this volume in honor of Simon''s work, with three highly distinguished editors. This book will be a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the intellectual antecedents of so much of the scholarly and other work being done in these three fields, and allied fields, today. What a great tribute to Herb Simon, one of the scholars I admire most in the world, and whom I had the privilege of knowing personally.’
– Robert J Sternberg, Cornell University, New York, US
Contributors
Contributors include: Robert Axtell, Maria Bagassi, Jonathan Bendor, Massimo Egidi, Katherine Simon Frank, Gerd Gigerenzer, Daniel G. Goldstein, Ulrich Hoffrage, Konstantinos Katsikopoulos, Pat Langley, Laura Macchi, Luigi Marengo, Julian Marewski, Shabnam Mousavi, Enrico Petracca, Saras Sarasvathy, Hersh Shefrin, Giacomo Sillari, J.-C. Spender, Shyam Sunder, Riccardo Viale
Contents
Contents:
Introduction: Simon says 1
Gerd Gigerenzer, Shabnam Mousavi and Riccardo Viale
1 Herbert Simon: a daughter’s view 5
Katherine Simon Frank
PART I ARE MINDS LIKE COMPUTERS?
2 Herbert Simon on mind as computer 15
Gerd Gigerenzer and Daniel G. Goldstein
3 Symbols and search in humans and machines 33
Pat Langley
PART II WHAT MAKES ADMINISTRATORS AND ENTREPRENEURS?
4 Beggars and horseless: entrepreneurial origins of organizations
and markets 57
Saras Sarasvathy
5 Reflections on descriptive and prescriptive issues in
Administrative Behavior, the work for which Herbert Simon
received the 1978 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics 78
Hersh Shefrin
6 Simon and Knight 98
J.-C. Spender
PART III WHAT IS BOUNDED RATIONALITY?
7 A double-edged metaphor: Simon and the scissors of bounded
rationality 130
Enrico Petracca
8 From bounded rationality to ecological rationality 148
Gerd Gigerenzer
9 Intelligence versus rationality: Simon’s dueling reference points 176
Jonathan Bendor
PART IV SOLVING PROBLEMS
10 Enactive problem solving: an alternative to the limits of
decision making 197
Riccardo Viale
11 Problem solving, bounded rationality and the enigma of thought 227
Laura Macchi and Maria Bagassi
PART V ORGANIZATIONS, HEURISTICS, AND LIFE LESSONS
12 Study of organization without strategy: structural rationality 249
Shabnam Mousavi and Shyam Sunder
13 Representations, frames and the dynamics of routines:
rethinking routines as artifacts 277
Massimo Egidi, Luigi Marengo and Giacomo Sillari
14 Heuristics for metascience: Simon and Popper 299
Konstantinos V. Katsikopoulos, Julian N. Marewski and Ulrich Hoffrage
PART VI FINALE: SIMON SAID
15 Simon said: Herb’s research rules and life lessons 313
Robert Axtell
Introduction: Simon says 1
Gerd Gigerenzer, Shabnam Mousavi and Riccardo Viale
1 Herbert Simon: a daughter’s view 5
Katherine Simon Frank
PART I ARE MINDS LIKE COMPUTERS?
2 Herbert Simon on mind as computer 15
Gerd Gigerenzer and Daniel G. Goldstein
3 Symbols and search in humans and machines 33
Pat Langley
PART II WHAT MAKES ADMINISTRATORS AND ENTREPRENEURS?
4 Beggars and horseless: entrepreneurial origins of organizations
and markets 57
Saras Sarasvathy
5 Reflections on descriptive and prescriptive issues in
Administrative Behavior, the work for which Herbert Simon
received the 1978 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics 78
Hersh Shefrin
6 Simon and Knight 98
J.-C. Spender
PART III WHAT IS BOUNDED RATIONALITY?
7 A double-edged metaphor: Simon and the scissors of bounded
rationality 130
Enrico Petracca
8 From bounded rationality to ecological rationality 148
Gerd Gigerenzer
9 Intelligence versus rationality: Simon’s dueling reference points 176
Jonathan Bendor
PART IV SOLVING PROBLEMS
10 Enactive problem solving: an alternative to the limits of
decision making 197
Riccardo Viale
11 Problem solving, bounded rationality and the enigma of thought 227
Laura Macchi and Maria Bagassi
PART V ORGANIZATIONS, HEURISTICS, AND LIFE LESSONS
12 Study of organization without strategy: structural rationality 249
Shabnam Mousavi and Shyam Sunder
13 Representations, frames and the dynamics of routines:
rethinking routines as artifacts 277
Massimo Egidi, Luigi Marengo and Giacomo Sillari
14 Heuristics for metascience: Simon and Popper 299
Konstantinos V. Katsikopoulos, Julian N. Marewski and Ulrich Hoffrage
PART VI FINALE: SIMON SAID
15 Simon said: Herb’s research rules and life lessons 313
Robert Axtell
