Biology and the Arguments of Utility by Prof. Arthur Robson

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• Arthur Robson (Simon Fraser University)
• Monday 19 May 2014, 16:00-17:30
• Meade Room, Faculty of Economics, Cambridge.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Cambridge-INET Institute, Faculty of Economics.

Event webpage: http://www.inet.econ.cam.ac.uk/our-events/Arthur-Robson-talk1

Why did evolution not give us a utility function that is offspring alone? Why do we care intrinsically about other outcomes, such as food, and what determines the intensity of such preferences? A common view is that such other outcomes enhance fitness and the intensity of our preference for a given outcome is proportional to its contribution to fitness. We argue that this view is incomplete. Specifically, we show that in the presence of informational asymmetries, the evolutionarily most desirable preference for a given outcome is determined not only by the significance of the outcome, but by the Agent’s degree of ignorance regarding its significance. Our model also sheds light on the phenomena of peer effects and prepared learning, whereby some peer attitudes are more influential than others.

This talk is part of the Biology and the Arguments of Utility series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Biology and the Arguments of Utility
• Cambridge Infectious Diseases
• Meade Room, Faculty of Economics, Cambridge

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