Santa Fe Institute

Bio

I am interested primarily in the structure and evolution of preferences. In classical economic theory, preferences are largely taken for granted. Often this is reasonable because strategic constraints are the driving force behind behavior. However, in a number of interesting cases --- for example, voter turnout and voter decision-making, especially in two-candidate contests --- an individual's preferences dominate. A related point is that even when strategic considerations dominate, strategic models fall short. I use evolutionary game theory and models from cognitive psychology to better understand preferences and beliefs so that we may develop better, more psychologically-grounded models of decision-making in economic contexts.