Neuroeconomics is a recent promising interdisciplinary scientific area which involves neuroscientists, economists, and psychologists interested in offering a new and shared theoretical vision that considers the role of the brain in individual decision-making in economics. This collection of papers provides an interesting overview of the recent evolution of Neuroeconomics and offers the latest results of applied researches in this area, with a focus on marketing, accounting, and finance.

As technology has opened new windows into the brain, it has clarified what happens there when people make decisions about money. This clarity has produced a new science called neuroeconomics, which addresses diverse questions, such as why people save, buy stocks, steal, and overspend. The many different methods used in neuroeconomics have, however, often yielded unclear findings about the quality of these decisions, primarily because the field has lacked both guidelines for categorizing the different aspects of quality, and guidelines for selecting methods to study these aspects. Before this book, in which Peter Politser guides the reader through the different regions of study, there was no scientific guide for those interested in neuroeconomics. Politser shows how to evaluate specific elements of choice, such as regret, expectation, risk, ambiguity, time preference, and learning, and surveys economic and behavioral models of decision making skills. He reviews the neural correlates of decisional impairments and inconsistenciesclarifying, for example, why we do not recall what we experience, experience what we expect, or like what we want, and provides detailed tables of decision-making skills, their neural correlates, and possible impairments. Politser also considers what the field of neuroeconomics may add to future conceptions of decision making, and outlines the limitations of various studies of different capacities. He then introduces a broader field for the design and interpretation of neuroeconomic studiesa neuroepidemiology of decision making. Everyone who wants to understand the research in neuroeconomics or use its methods should read this book. Its accessible text, along with an extensive glossary, will guide those with little economic or neuroscience background, and make the book an excellent supplement for courses on neuroscience and decision making.

This book represents one of the cornerstones of the series Studies in Neuroscience, Psychology and Behavioral Economics. It is divided into eight sections, starting with an introduction to neuroeconomics followed by an overview of frequently applied experimental paradigms (games) in neuroeconomics research. Furthermore, it addresses the molecular basis of human decision making, environmental/situational factors and social contexts influencing human decision making, as well as translational and developmental/clinical approaches to neuroeconomics. In closing, a paper on neuro-marketing demonstrates how knowledge from neuroeconomics research can be applied in “real life.” Culminating in an extensive methods section, in which eight different neuroscience techniques are introduced, the book offers an essential resource for researchers and practitioners, and may also be beneficial for graduate students.

Neuroeconomics has emerged as a field of study with the goal of understanding the human decision-making process and the mental consideration of multiple outcomes based on a selected action. In particular, neuroeconomics emphasizes how economic conditions can impact and influence the decision-making process and alternately, how human actions have the power to impact economic conditions. Neuroeconomics and the Decision-Making Process presents the latest research on the relationship between neuroscience, economics, and human decision-making, including theoretical foundations, real-world applications, and models for implementation. Taking a cross-disciplinary approach to neuroeconomic theory and study, this publication is an essential reference source for economists, psychologists, business professionals, and graduate-level students across disciplines.

Is neuroeconomics a flimsy fad likely to pass without leaving a discernible trace in economics? Or is it a promising new field with the potential to enrich and improve economic theory? Neuroeconomics brings together a unique mix of perspectives ranging from philosophy of science to neuroeconomics practice to reflect on the promises and limitations of neuroeconomics for the future of economics. The analyses collected in the volume suggest that although neuroeconomics raises methodological worries that ought to be dealt with, it might contribute to economics in various ways, some perhaps more promising than others. One thing comes out clearly, though: a complete insulation of economics from neuroscience and psychology is likely to do economics more harm than good. This book was originally published as a special issue of Journal of Economic Methodology.