Models of a Man Essays in Memory of Herbert A. Simon

by Augier, Mie; March, James G.

• ISBN13: 9780262012089
• ISBN10: 0262012081
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-03-26
• Publisher: The MIT Press

Summary

Herbert Simon (1916-2001), in the course of a long and distinguished career in the social and behavioral sciences, made lasting contributions to many disciplines, including economics, psychology, computer science, and artificial intelligence. In 1978 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for his research into the decision-making process within economic organizations. His well-known book The Sciences of the Artificialaddresses the implications of the decision-making and problem-solving processes for the social sciences. This book (the title is a variation on the title of Simon's autobiography, Models of My Life) is a collection of short essays, all original, by colleagues from many fields who felt Simon's influence and mourn his loss. Mixing reminiscence and analysis, the book represents "a small acknowledgment of a large debt." Each of the more than forty contributors was asked to write about the one work by Simon that he or she had found most influential. The editors then grouped the essays into four sections: "Modeling Man," "Organizations and Administration," "Modeling Systems," and "Minds and Machines." The contributors include such prominent figures as Kenneth Arrow, William Baumol, William Cooper, Gerd Gigerenzer, Daniel Kahneman, David Klahr, Franco Modigliani, Paul Samuelson, and Vernon Smith. Although they consider topics as disparate as "Is Bounded Rationality Unboundedly Rational?" and "Personal Recollections from 15 Years of Monthly Meetings," each essay is a testament to the legacy of Herbert Simon -- to see the unity rather than the divergences among disciplines.

Author Biography

Mie Augier is a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University.

James G. March is a Professor Emeritus at Stanford University.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
Prologues
Herbert A. Simon, Scientist	3	(30)
Mie Augier
James G. March
He's Just My Dad!	33	(14)
Katherine Simon Frank
I Modeling Man
Is Bounded Rationality Unboundedly Rational? Some Ruminations	47	(10)
Kenneth J. Arrow
On Rational Satisficing	57	(10)
William J. Baumol
Memorial to Herbert A. Simon	67	(8)
William W. Cooper
Consilience, Economic Theory, and the Legacy of Herbert A. Simon	75	(18)
Richard H. Day
Interdisciplinary Reasoning and Herbert Simon's Influence	93	(20)
Yuji Ijiri
Beliefs and Tastes: Confessions of an Economist	113	(30)
David M. Kreps
The Best Is the Enemy of the Good	143	(10)
Roy Radner
The Hawkins and Simon Story Revisited	153	(10)
Paul A. Samuelson
Herbert A. Simon Opened My Eyes	163	(6)
Reinhard Selten
Monetary Rewards and Decision Cost in Strategic Interactions	169	(14)
Vernon L. Smith
Ferenc Szidarovszky
II Organizations and Administration
A Focus on Processes: Part of Herbert Simon's Legacy	183	(8)
Philip Bromiley
Herbert Simon as Friend to Economists Out of Fashion	191	(6)
John Conlisk
Herbert A. Simon and the Education of Managers	197	(14)
William R. Dill
A Very Reasonable Objective Still Beyond Our Reach: Economics as an Empirically Disciplined Social Science	211	(16)
Giovanni Dosi
Lessons I Learned from Herbert A. Simon and His Friends: A Reflection on My Years at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration	227	(6)
Julian Feldman
Heuristics of Public Administration	233	(18)
Robert E. Goodin
``Warmly Yours, Herb''	251	(8)
Harold Guetzkow
Economics after Simon	259	(20)
Brian J. Loasby
Herbert Simon and Organization Theory: Lessons for the Theory of the Firm	279	(18)
Oliver E. Williamson
The ``Easy Problem'' Problem	297	(10)
Sidney G. Winter
III Modeling Systems
Causality, Decomposition, and Aggregation in Social Science Models	307	(10)
Albert Ando
Bounded Rationality and Decomposability: The Basis for Integrating Cognitive and Evolutionary Economics	317	(18)
Peter E. Earl
Jason Potts
Near-Decomposability, Organization, and Evolution: Some Notes on Herbert Simon's Contribution	335	(16)
Massimo Egidi
Luigi Marengo
Herbert Simon	351	(4)
Axel Leijonhufvud
Rational Forecasting, Learning, and Decision Making	355	(10)
Charles C. Holt
Herbert Simon: Intellectual Magnet	365	(8)
Michael C. Lovell
Herbert Simon: Some Cherished Memories	373	(4)
Franco Modigliani
Herbert Simon and Production Scheduling	377	(6)
John F. Muth
IV Minds and Machines
``On a Different Plane''	383	(6)
Edward A. Feigenbaum
Striking a Blow for Sanity in Theories of Rationality	389	(22)
Gerd Gigerenzer
Attribute Substitution in Intuitive Judgment	411	(22)
Daniel Kahneman
Shane Frederick
Encounters with the Force of Herbert A. Simon	433	(18)
David Klahr
Strong Ideas	451	(10)
Kenneth Kotovsky
Heuristics for Scientific Discovery: The Legacy of Herbert Simon	461	(12)
Pat Langley
Herb Simon: A Recollection	473	(8)
Pamela McCorduck
Letter to Herb Simon	481	(2)
George Miller
Herbert Simon, David Hume, and the Science of Man: Some Philosophical Implications of Models	483	(18)
Joseph C. Pitt
Markets as Artifacts: Aggregate Efficiency from Zero-Intelligence Traders	501	(20)
Shyam Sunder
Personal Recollections from 15 Years of Monthly Meetings	521	(12)
Raul E. Valdes-Perez
Epilogue
A Soft Goodbye	533	(4)
James G. March
About the Contributors	537	(12)
Name Index	549