aer.100.2.141 Equilibrium Fictions A Cognitive Approach to Societal Rigidity英文清晰版.pdf

American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 100 (May 2010): 141–146 /articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.100.2.141 Equilibrium Fictions: A Cognitive Approach to Societal Rigidity By Karla Hoff and Joseph E. Stiglitz* Psychologists, sociologists, and anthropolo- helps explain why institutional change can be so gists have emphasized that the cognitive frames difficult and societies so rigid. A set of beliefs within which people view the world are both col- that may have been functional at one time, but lectively held and malleable over time. Category is no longer so, can persist after the economics/ systems have cultural roots and influence what technology that had led to the adoption of the attributes people perceive (Eric Margolis and beliefs has changed. We show that allowing for Stephen Laurence 1999). The cognitive frames “equilibrium bias” in perceptions may explain operative in a culture unconsciously influence, the existence across societies and persistence as well, how people interpret whatever informa- across time of very different ideologies. This tion they register (see, e.g., Marianne Bertrand, approach allows for a larger and more robust Dolly Chugh, and Sendhil Mullainathan 2005). set of equilibria than can be supported by a RE Yet economists have generally neglected the model. On the other hand, the set of equilibria role played by socially constructed cognitive in our approach is much more constrained than frames. In rational expectations (hereafter, RE), the “animal sp