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Front Cover -- The Beginnings of Behavioral Economics: Katona, Simon, and Leibenstein's X-Efficiency Theory -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Introduction -- I What this book is about and what it is not about -- II Two beginnings, one door -- III Leibenstein's writings, 1950-66 -- Bandwagon, Snob, and Veblen Effects in the Theory of Consumer Demand (1950) -- A Theory of Economic Demographic Development (1954) -- Economic Backwardness and Economic Growth (1957), and -- Investment Criteria, Productivity, and Economic Development (1955) -- Economic Theory and Organizational Analysis (1960) -- IV Empirical studies on X-efficiency -- 2 Two beginnings -- I The door -- Two beginnings -- The door -- The (sophisticated) anthropomorphic sin -- 1994. A momentous year in the history of behavioral economics? -- Even the best of us have been rejected -- II Homo economicus -- The pre-eminence of homo-economicus in economics -- III Behavioral economics. What is it? -- Behavioral economics is what behavioral economists do -- Rexford Tugwell. Forerunner of behavioral economics -- IV Final comments on this chapter and looking ahead to Chapter 3 -- 3 The "Big 3." Simon, Katona, Leibenstein -- I Herbert A. Simon -- Simplicity is often the best approach -- The parable of the ant -- Bounded rationality and satisficing -- II George Katona -- Katona's beginnings -- Why economics and psychology drifted apart -- ECONS vs HUMANS -- Characteristics of behavioral economics/psychological economics -- Katona takes on homo economicus, and discusses framing -- Rationality -- Framing -- Katona's behavioral macro -- Consumer behavior -- The law of large numbers -- Intervening variables. Motives, attitudes, and expectations -- Prediction and understanding -- III Harvey Leibenstein -- Atoms and molecules. Individuals vs firms and households.

In economics efficiency has meant allocative efficiency since time immemorial. Allocative efficiency means that the market price is equal to the marginal cost, and that the firm is using the cost minimizing [K/L] ratio. Allocative inefficiency in the market occurs when P ≠ MC. In the firm it means that the firm is either too capital intensive or too labor intensive. Most of the attention in economics has been on market allocative inefficiency. This is because markets will be inefficient if it contains market power. However, since "time immemorial" firms have been assumed to be efficient. Market allocative inefficiency for the entire economy is between 1/10 of 1% and 1/100 of 1% of GDP. For a $16 trillion GDP this is equal to between $16,000,000,000 and $1,600,000,000. By way of comparison, each year Americans spend $7,000,000,000 on potato chips. However, inefficiency is not limited to allocative inefficiency. In 1966 Harvey Leibenstein began using the term X-(in)efficiency. The use of the X stems from the fact that when Harvey Leibenstein first wrote about it he claimed that the nature of this type of non-allocative (in)efficiency was not known, hence the X. X-inefficiency has been estimated to be in the area of three percent of the GDP. For a $16 trillion economy this is $480,000,000,000. This paper reviews some of the issues surrounding X-(in)efficiency including some raised by Oliver Williamson, as well as reviewing the empirical literature on X-efficiency in the financial sectors of the U.S. and Europe.

Traditional microeconomic theory is concerned with the allocation of scarce resources through the mechanism of prices and markets. The efficient allocation of resources by prices and markets is called allocative efficiency. In emphasizing the allocative function of prices and markets, microeconomic theory has ignored the allocation of resources within firms, and instead assumes that firms are always internally (X) efficient, cost minimizers. X-efficiency theory shows that protection from competitive pressures produces not only allocated market-inefficiency, but inefficiency within the firm. This book is the most current, in-depth, and comprehensive review of X-efficiency theory, especially as it relates to regulatory economics and policy. It provides an understanding of X-efficiency by developing the theory, exhibiting empirical evidence, and, finally, reviewing applications of the theory

1. Introduction -- 2. Two beginnings -- 3. The "Big 3." Simon, Katona, Leibenstein -- 4. It didn't just happen overnight -- 5. Leibenstein before X-efficiency theory -- 6. X-efficiency. An intervening variable -- 7. Empirical research on XE: : c 1967-1990 -- 8. XE among US financial institutions 1991 -- 2017. 9. XE among financial firms in Asia c.1991-2017. -- 10. XE among Asian non-financial institutions c.1991-2017 -- 11. XE in Europe c1991-2017. -- 12. XE in Australia and New Zealand, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and the world. 13. Conclusions

"This book is a collection of specially-commissioned chapters from philosophers, economists, political and behavioral economists, cognitive and organizational psychologists, computer scientists, sociologists and permutations thereof as befits the polymathic subject of this book: Herbert Simon. The tripartite of the title, Minds, Models and Milieux, connotes the three inextricably linked areas to which Herbert Simon made the most distinguished of contributions. 'Minds' connotes Simon's abiding interest in theorizing human behavior, rationality, and decision-making; 'Models' connotes his extensive computer simulation work in the service of his interest in understanding minds, but also in the service of minds that are situated in a complex social 'Milieux'. This collection while intended to commemorate the centenary of Simon's birth simultaneously offers a timely reassessment of some of his central insights and illustrates the exponentially growing interest in Simon's work from beyond the usual disciplines and constituencies. "--