Limits of Economic and Social Knowledge

Stephen J. DeCanio is Professor of Economics, Emeritus (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA). From 1986 to 1987 he served as a senior staff economist at the President's Council of Economic Advisers. He participated in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He has been a recipient of the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought, as well as a 'Best of the Best' Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

1. Introduction and Overview 2. Consequences of computational limits 3. Simulating Simple Societies 4. Economics and Natural Science 5. Economics, Behaviorism, and Utilitarianism 6. A Case Study and Cautionary Tale: Climate Policy 7. Politics and Governance 8. The Gift of Freedom