On the collaborative potential of psychology and economics

This essay introduces the papers of this special issue by framing them with in a discussion of the past and present state of relations between social p sychologists and economists working on models of human decision making, We review the different approaches scholars have taken in the two fields, as w ell as some experimental work conducted in each, and argue that we have muc h to learn from each other. While psychologists and economists have typical ly attended to different issues in their research, the papers in this colle ction ably illustrate the potential for collaborations drawing on the stren gths of each field. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: D80; C90; A12.