Subjectivist Statistics for the Current Crisis

Reviews the book, Probability and Statistics for Business Decisions: An Introduction to Managerial Economics under Uncertainty by Robert Schlaifer (see record 1959-15035-000). Schlaifer's book is of greater importance than its title might imply since it presents a set of applied statistical techniques which are very different in form and conceptual basis from the classical methods almost universally used in psychological research. While these methods are presented in the context of business decision making, similar methods are of potential use in any applied field. Schlaifer has attempted a "nonmathematical introduction to the logical analysis of practical business problems in which a decision must be reached under uncertainty." Such a process is essentially an extension of the methods "thoughtful businessmen intuitively apply" to problems "which are simple enough to allow of purely intuitive analysis". As the subtitle states, the volume is "an introduction to managerial economics under uncertainty." Since the methods Schlaifer presents are alternatives to the 'classical methods' which have been the focus of so much recent criticism, it would be well to consider both the criticisms he advances and the alternative methods he develops. The techniques that Schlaifer presents are a kind of 'mathematical model' as to how an individual decision maker would like to behave and are intended as an aid to judgment-not as a substitute. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)