Abstract:

Political economics commented on and drew inferences about certain psychological phenomena even before the marginalist revolution. As a result of the progress in natural sciences, economics started to test its theories by placing logical positivism and mathematics at the forefront. In doing so, they defined individuals as rational and pragmatist utopic agents. With the emergence of the cognitive revolution, advances in psychology made it possible to study the decision-making processes of individuals, which to a great extent led to the development of behavioural economics. In this study, the two phases of behavioural economics are discussed in retrospect, and then its epistemological and methodological backgrounds are investigated. Finally, relatively young Turkish literature on behavioural economics is systematically examined. This paper aims to provide a neat overview of behavioural economics in which researchers and interested parties might benefit in Turkey.

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