Simon and Knight

J.-C. Spender ()

Chapter 6 in Elgar Companion to Herbert Simon, 2024, pp 99-128 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Herbert Simon entered the University of Chicago undergraduate program in 1933 intending to study economics. Frank Knight was head of the economics department. Although Knight greatly influenced pre-World War II economics, the links, if any, between Knight’s signature uncertainty and Simon’s equally signature bounded rationality have yet to be clarified. Simon claimed his ideas grew from a distinction between fact and value about which Knight wrote extensively, though as far as we know the two never interacted directly. But from his PhD oral exam onwards, Simon met pushback from those who adopted a Knightian rather than a Simonian view of the fact/value distinction and its implications. This chapter explores boundaries to Simon’s views as revealed in the related intellectual battles he fought over the course of his extraordinarily wide-ranging - and combative - career.

Keywords: Business and Management; Economics and Finance; Politics and Public Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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