Rational Choice Without Closure: The Microfoundations of Virtuous Cycles and Vicious Circles

Originally published in Journal of Economic Methodology

Economic stories with a rational choice structure usually entail closure or equilibrium.

Economic stories with a rational choice structure usually entail closure or equilibrium. This paper argues that Knightian uncertainty and Kirznerian alertness allow economists to construct plausible accounts of open-ended processes such as virtuous cycles and vicious circles without abandoning the centrality of instrumental rationality. The basic form of such stories is explored and two example cases are put forward.

Find article at Taylor & Francis.

To speak with a scholar or learn more on this topic, visit our contact page.

Mercatus AI Assistant
Ask questions about this research.
GPT Logo
Mercatus AI Research Assistant
Ask questions about this research. Mercatus Chatbot AI More Details
Suggested Prompts:
Ask us anything. We use OpenAI's ChatGPT 4o base model to answer any question about Mercatus research.