http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/20111122155856959773.html
Much of modern economic and financial theory is based on the assumption that people are rational, and thus that they systematically maximise their own happiness, or as economists call it, their "utility". When Samuelson took on the subject in his 1947 book, he did not look into the brain, but relied instead on "revealed preference". People's objectives are revealed only by observing their economic activities. Under Samuelson's guidance, generations of economists have based their research not on any physical structure underlying thought and behaviour, but only on the assumption of rationality.
As a result, Glimcher is skeptical of prevailing economic theory, and is seeking a physical basis for it in the brain. He wants to transform "soft" utility theory into "hard" utility theory by discovering the brain mechanisms that underlie it.
In particular, Glimcher wants to identify brain structures that process key elements of utility theory when people face uncertainty: "(1) subjective value, (2) probability, (3) the product of subjective value and probability (expected subjective value), and (4) a neurocomputational mechanism that selects the element from the choice set that has the highest ‘expected subjective value…'"
... though I wonder if we'll learn anything significant enough to save the species from permanent extinction.
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