Robert Sugden
Biography
Robert Sugden is Professor of Economics at the University of East Anglia.
He has written about economic methodology, political philosophy, and rational choice theory. (You can find his latest book here.)
He is best known for his development of the credible worlds justification for theoretical economic models, his co-formulation of regret theory, and his critique of libertarian paternalism.
Lectures & Interviews
Born
1949, West Yorkshire, England
Education
D.Litt Economics, University of York
MSc Economics, University College, Cardiff
BA History & Economics, University of York
Institutions
University of East Anglia/ Professor of Economics, University of East Anglia (Jan. 1985 - Present)
Reader in Economics, Newcastle University (Sep. 1978 - Mar. 1985)
Lecturer in Economics, University of York (Sep. 1971 - Aug. 1978)
Fields
Theoretical Economics
Topics
Decision-Making Under Uncertainty
Known For
Regret Theory
Selected Publications
David Hume
R Sugden. Hume's non-instrumental and non-propositional decision theory. Economics & Philosophy 22 (3), 365-391 (2006)
R Sugden. Why rationality is not a consequence of Hume's theory of choice. The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 12 (1), 113-118 (2005).
R Sugden. Can a Humean be a Contractarian? Rationality, Markets and Morals 0, 11-23 (2009)
R Sugden. David Hume’s treatise of human nature. Topoi 27 (1), 153-159 (2008)
R Sugden. Hume's experimental psychology and the idea of erroneous preferences. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 183, 836-848 (2021)
R Sugden. The great economist David Hume: A review of Margaret Schabas and Carl Wennerlind,'A Philosopher’s Economist: Hume and the Rise of Capitalism'. Journal of Economic Methodology (2021)
R Sugden. Normative judgments and spontaneous order: The contractarian element in Hayek's thought. Constitutional political economy 4 (3), 393-424 (1993)
R Sugden. Spontaneous Order. The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 3 (4), 85-97 (1989)
R Sugden. Why incoherent preferences do not justify paternalism. Constitutional Political Economy 19 (3), 226-248 (2008)
R Sugden. On Nudging: A Review of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein. Routledge 16 (3), 365-373, (2009)
R Sugden. Do people really want to be nudged towards healthy lifestyles? International Review of Economics 64 (2), 113-123 (2017)
R Sugden. ‘Better off, as judged by themselves’: a reply to Cass Sunstein. International Review of Economics 65 (1), 9-13 (2018)
Credible Worlds & Economic Methodology
R Sugden. Credible worlds, capacities and mechanisms. Erkenntnis 70 (1), 3-27 (2009)
R Sugden. Credible worlds: the status of theoretical models in economics. Journal of Economic Methodology 7:1, 1–31 (2000)
G Infante, G Lecouteux, R Sugden. ‘On the Econ within’: a reply to Daniel Hausman. Journal of Economic Methodology 23 (1), 33-37 (2016)
R Sugden. Mary S. Morgan's The world in the model: how economists work and think. Cambridge University Press, 2012, 435 pp. Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics 6 (1), 108-114 (2013)
L Bruni, R Sugden. The road not taken: how psychology was removed from economics, and how it might be brought back. The Economic Journal 117 (516), 146-173 (2007)
I Bateman, D Kahneman, A Munro, C Starmer, R Sugden. Testing competing models of loss aversion: An adversarial collaboration. Journal of Public Economics 89 (8), 1561-1580, (2005)
R Sugden. How Hayekian is Sunstein's behavioral economics? Behavioural Public Policy, 1-10 (2021)
Experimental Economics
N Bardsley, R Cubitt, G Loomes, P Moffatt, C Starmer, R Sugden. Experimental economics: Rethinking the rules. Princeton University Press. (2009)
Regret Theory
G Loomes, R Sugden. Regret theory: An alternative theory of rational choice under uncertainty. The economic journal 92 (368), 805-824. (1982)
G Loomes, R Sugden. Some implications of a more general form of regret theory. Journal of Economic Theory 41 (2), 270-287 (1987)
G Loomes, R Sugden. Testing for regret and disappointment in choice under uncertainty. The Economic Journal 97, 118-129 (1987)
R Sugden. Regret, recrimination and rationality. Theory and decision 19 (1), 77-99 1985 (1985)
R Sugden. An axiomatic foundation for regret theory. Journal of Economic Theory 60 (1), 159-180 (1993)
G Loomes, R Sugden. Regret theory and measurable utility. Economics Letters 12 (1), 19-21 (1983)
G Loomes, R Sugden. Regret theory and information: A reply. The Economic Journal 94 (375), 649-650 (1984)
C Starmer, R Sugden. Experimental evidence of the impact of regret on choice under uncertainty. University of East Anglia Economics Research Centre (1987)
Awards
1996 Elected Fellow of the British Academy