Note: This workshop was jointly held with Modarn Economics Study Group in Graduate School of Economics and Business Administration and Center for Experimental Research in Social Sciences, Hokkaido University.

Date: August 7, 2008 (Thursday) 16:00-18:00

Location: Hokkaido University, The Humanities and Social Science Building, room W309

Speakers: Nathan Berg (University of Texas-Dallas)

Participants: Toshio Yamagishi, Tatsuya Kameda, Susumu Ohnuma, Yoichi Hizen, Others (16 participants): Total 20 participants

Contents: 
In economics, the normative criteria are overwhelmingly axioms of self consistency.  But recent studies show many observations of beliefs or choices that depart from normative consistency axioms. Professor Berg talked about several different research projects centered on the theme of empirical normative economics; 1) economists’ beliefs about risks of cancer, 2) food price data, grocery stores’ location choice, and 3) time inconsistency, risk attitudes, and payoffs (experimental data). He showed that consistency describes poorly what successful professionals, successful firms, and successful (high-payoff) experimental subjects do. It implies that normative consistency axioms should be modified.