Studies in Classical Behavioural Economics

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the core aspects of Classical Behavioural Economics (henceforth, CBE), pioneered by Herbert Simon. In this endeavor, firstly, I will attempt to contrast Classical Behavioural Economics from Modern Behavioral Economics (henceforth, MBE). Secondly, I undertake a detailed investigation of the underpinnings of the core pillars of Classical Behavioral Economics, namely: Bounded Rationality, Satisficing; in the light of Computability Theory. I hope to explore the computable underpinnings of Classical Behavioural Economics, and consequently, interpret human problem solving as decision problems, in a formal sense. I will work along the lines of Newell and Simon’s ‘Theory of Human Problem Solving’ (henceforth, HPS), in which the problem solver is encapsulated as an Information Processing System (henceforth, IPS). As in HPS, I study human problem solving in complex search spaces, however, by using the game of Go (there by going beyond Chess) and its task environment as the paradigm. In the final chapter, Simon's diverse contributions on near-decomposability and evolution will also be explored. Computability theory and Decision Problems will form the unifying themes for the entire study.