Economic Man

Shaun P. Hargreaves Heap

Economic Man

Shaun P. Hargreaves Heap

School of Economics

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Abstract

Economic man ‘knows the price of everything and the value of nothing’, so said because he or she calculates and then acts so as to satisfy best his or her preferences. The value of these preferences is immaterial. The hypothesis has nevertheless proved remarkably powerful not only in economics but across the social sciences where it has spawned ‘rational choice’ accounts of many aspects of social life. This ambition has attracted critics both from without and within. The latter have developed, with insights from psychology on how people acquire and use information, a less elegant but arguably more realistic model.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics
Editors	Steven N Durlauf, Lawrence E Blume
Publisher	Palgrave
Publication status	Published - 2008

Cite this

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title = "Economic Man",

abstract = "Economic man {\textquoteleft}knows the price of everything and the value of nothing{\textquoteright}, so said because he or she calculates and then acts so as to satisfy best his or her preferences. The value of these preferences is immaterial. The hypothesis has nevertheless proved remarkably powerful not only in economics but across the social sciences where it has spawned {\textquoteleft}rational choice{\textquoteright} accounts of many aspects of social life. This ambition has attracted critics both from without and within. The latter have developed, with insights from psychology on how people acquire and use information, a less elegant but arguably more realistic model.",

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AB - Economic man ‘knows the price of everything and the value of nothing’, so said because he or she calculates and then acts so as to satisfy best his or her preferences. The value of these preferences is immaterial. The hypothesis has nevertheless proved remarkably powerful not only in economics but across the social sciences where it has spawned ‘rational choice’ accounts of many aspects of social life. This ambition has attracted critics both from without and within. The latter have developed, with insights from psychology on how people acquire and use information, a less elegant but arguably more realistic model.

M3 - Chapter

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