Research interests:
Production theory. Structural change and economic dynamics.
Political economy of social structure and economic analysis
of institutions. Decision making under fundamental uncertainty.
History of economic analysis. Philosophy or economics and economic
methodology.
Research carried out by the principal investigator and his team
moves from the analytical reconstruction of social congruence
criteria and from the analysis of context-dependent models of
congruence and social knowledge dynamics. In particular, special
attention has been devoted to the theory of connections, so as to
highlight a taxonomy of connections and the variety of
interdependencies compatible with any given set of connections. It
may be conjectured that any given set of connections presupposes
the existence of 'borderlines' (both with respect to the external
environment and within the inner space of connections).
Salient schemes of interdependence (congruence frames)
are central in bringing certain connections to the fore while
excluding other sets of connections. This point of view calls
attention to the consideration of distance measures (both among
individual subjects as among social groups). For the same
individuals (or groups) appear more or less distant relatively to
one another (both in terms of their relative positions and in terms
of their representations of them) depending on the salient features
considered. This approach suggests that socio-economic dynamics can
be analyzed by considering the processes by which alternative sets
of salient features may be generated. In particular, there is an
important relationship between identification of salient features
and emergence of congruence structures. This linkage suggests a
classification of congruence criteria and the substitution of a
continuum of congruence criteria for the duality between congruence
and misfit (and for the duality coordination versus conflict) . It
is envisaged that a general explanation of congruence structures
may be derived from consideration of specific sets of salient
features, and their association with ad hoc congruence criteria
adapted to specific historical and institutional contexts. A case
of special interest will be the emergence and dynamics of
congruence and coordination under conditions of severe uncertainty,
and the position of coordination images in that connection. The
principal investigator presented a paper on coordination images
(social mirrors) at the international conference 'The Philosophy of
Adam Smith', to be held at Balliol College, Oxford, 6-8 January
2009. Two other papers in this field have been presented
respectively at the University of Stirling SCEME worshop of
25.4.2009 and at the workshop 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments and
the Human Sciences' held at the Bologna Academy of Sciences
(11.12.2009). The structure and dynamics of causal contexts has
been examined in the paper 'From Theory to Context: Pragmatism in
Economics', presented at the colloquium 'Pragmatism from Giovanni
Vailati to Contemporary Epistemology' (Interdepartmental Research
Centre in Epistemology and the History of Science "Federigo
Enriques", CIRESS, University of Bologna (13.10.2009). The above
research activity has been carried out in association with the
Centre for Research in Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities
(CRASSH) , University of Cambridge, UK; the Centre for History and
Economics, King's College, Cambridge; Gonville and Caius College
and Clare Hall, Cambridge. More recently, collaborative
research has been been carried out with the Centre for Financial
History, Newnham College, Cambridge and with the Research Seminar
in Political Economy, Emmanuel College, Cambridge.The
methodological background of this research programme has been
explored in a series of international workshops, which are listed
below: 'Rationality and Patterns of Reasoning' (European Science
Foundation, ESF, November 2004); ‘Causality, Probability and
Rationality' (6.5.2005),organized in association with the
Department of Philosophy and the Institute of Advanced Study of the
University of Bologna; ‘The Economy of Relational Structures'
(2.11.2005), organized in association with the Interdepartmental
Research Centre on Group Analysis (CIRIG) and the Institute of
Advanced Study, University of Bologna; ‘Plurality in Causality' (12
May 2005), organized in association with the Department of
Philosophy and the Institute of Advanced Study, University of
Bologna; 'Frames', organized in association with the Interfaculty
Centre of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics and the Department of
Philosophy, University of Bologna (6-9 June 2006), ‘Bruno de
Finetti. Radical Probabilist', organized in association with the
Department of Philosophy, the Department of Statistics, the
Interdepartmental Research Centre for Epistemology and History of
Science (CIRESS) and the Institute of Advanced Study, University of
Bologna (27/28 October 2006), 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments and
the Human Sciences' (co-convenors: R. Scazzieri and S. Zamagni;
Bologna Academy of Sciences, 11.12.2009), 'Epistemological Aspects
of Economic Science' (Seminar series convened by M.C. Galavotti and
R. Scazzieri and organized in collaboration between the Economics
Department and the Interdepartmental Research Centre in
Epistemology and the History of Science "Federigo Enriques",
University of Bologna (2009-2010).Roberto Scazzieri has
published (in collaboration with Silva Marzetti
dall'Aste Brandolini) the volume R. Scazzieri and S. Marzetti
Dall'Aste Brandolini (eds.), Fundamental Uncertainty. Rationality
and Plausible Reasoning, Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave
Macmillan, 2011.
