Neuroeconomics Conference

Gregory Berns just hosted a Neuroeoconomics conference at Martha's Vineyard. With both neuroscientists and economists in attendance there were a number of presentations of interdisciplinary research that will soon be submitted for peer review. Throughout the conference two main questions were the focus of much discussion. How will economics influence neuroscience? Here the main consensus seems to be in the application of models of choice and decentralized exchange to brain function. Also, how will neuroscience influence economics? This question seemed to have less consensus, but one view suggested by a number of participants was that neuroscience lets us see economic decision making as a nexus of competing interests inside the individual, and that this competition results in heterogeneity in individual behavior that once understood will likely influence the way we think about economic policy.