Rationality, uncertainty and ecological adaptation

The debate on the concept of rationality is key to the epistemological status of economics: starting from classical economics, scholars have always assumed some rational model of man, at least as a minimum requirement of consistency in choices; nonetheless, only with explicit neoclassical and Austrian modeling, the discussion entered an advanced stage. New fuel has been provided by experimental economics’ results helping scholars think about the real-world applicability of the neoclassical paradigm. In recent years, fresh perspectives and empirical evidence on computability have enriched the economist’s toolkit with frugal and efficient heuristics allowing real humans to tackle computationally hard problems. In this essay, we selectively discuss and expand some crucial nodes of the debate as reported in Panico (2012)’s contribution to the history of rationality in economics. We find that many early critical insights have remarkably enriched and strengthened our comprehension of how humans make economic choices.