Models in the classical theory of games and in neoclassical economics normally assume rationality in the sense that agents have compete and transitive preferences. The paper labels this fundamental rationality and distinguishs two other sorts of rationality pertinent to the study of strategic interaction: individual economic rationality (IER) and effective rationality. IER is, we observe, chara...

I took the title of this chapter from an email Herbert A. Simon sent me in May 1999. In this email, he wrote a statement for the back cover of Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart in which he commented: “I think the book strikes a great blow for sanity in the approach to rationality [and shows] why more than minor tampering with existing optimization theory is called for.” But Herb wouldn’t be ...

The September 11th attacks on the U.S. caused unanticipated changes in global arena. Their depiction fictional discourse contributed to broad understanding of events and their memorialization. In this paper, I analyze Mohsin Hamid’s novel Reluctant Fundamentalist which presents perspective those who were silenced dominant rhetoric 9/11 tragedy single-mindedly blamed as “evil others.” Through hi...