The talk will delve into recent advancements in the theoretical analysis of social norms, focusing on how norms emerge, spread, change, and stabilize within societies. A range of modelling frameworks (including game theory, evolutionary game theory, agent-based modelling, and multi-agent reinforcement learning) will be explored to provide a bird’s-eye view that illuminates different facets of the complex landscape of norms. These frameworks aim to provide insights into how norms influence everyday behaviours, and the analysis should resonate with social scientists who recognize the role of informal institutions in guiding socioeconomic interactions. The analysis will also suggest how social norms—as group-specific, context-dependent codes of conduct—relate to the classical liberal ideas of thinkers like Hume and Smith, especially in connection with concepts of shared standards, sympathy, and mutual advantage.

About the speaker

Alessandro Sontuoso is an Assistant Professor of Economics at City University of London and an affiliate researcher at the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy at Chapman University (Orange, Calif.). Alessandro works at the intersection of economic theory, behavioural economics, and economics & philosophy. His research has been published in the American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Quantitative Economics, and the Journal of Economic Theory, among other outlets.

About the series

This will be the next instalment in our monthly Food for Thought series, hosted in partnership with the Vinson Centre at the University of Buckingham. The purpose of this series is to foster high-level academic discussion on themes within the classical liberal tradition, touching on economics, philosophy, history, law, and related disciplines. In turn, we hope to form a community of academics, policymakers, professionals, and students united by the exchange of ideas and life-long learning.