Understanding choice, explaining behaviour

Ole-Jørgen Skog, a great scholar, is celebrated in this book at his sixtieth birthday. Thematically the essays are as diverse as the interests of the man they honour, but three main themes can be distinguished. The first theme is how to understand choice and explain behaviour. The essays discuss addiction, weakness of will, discrimination, how criminals solve the problem of trust, the social dependence of preferences, and the relationship between causal, rational and intentional explanations of behaviour. The second theme explores the consequences of behaviour with particular emphasis on the consumption of alcohol, mortality, early onset of drinking and the evolution of social movements. The third theme is philosophical essays on objectivity, ethics, and a conceptual analysis of bullshit.

The contributors reflect Ole-Jørgen's wide circle of friends and colleagues, and include many leading scholars.

The contributors are: Nobel laureate - Thomas C. Schelling Sociologists - Raymond Boudon - Diego Gambetta - Peter Hedström - Trond Petersen Economists - George Loewenstein - Hans Olav Melberg - Karl-Ove Moene Specialised alcohol researchers - Griffith Edwards - Thor Nordström - Robin Room - Ingeborg Rossow Philosophers - Olav Gjelsvik - Dagfinn Føllesdal - Political scientist - Raino Malnes

and some who - like Ole-Jørgen himself - defy categorisation: Jon Elster and George Ainslie.