"Homo economicus" is a term used in economics to describe an imaginary human being who always makes rational decisions to maximize their self-interest. It assumes that people always weigh the costs and benefits before making choices.
Full definition
The transition from description to normative use occurs also with respect to the view
of Homo economicus as acquisitive.
Truth be told, most economists regard
Homo economicus as a useful approximation to plug into their models, not a representation of how individuals actually behave.
Clearly Homo economicus is a useful abstraction for many purposes, especially for the analysis of the way the economy functions.
Students of behavioural finance attempt to
humanize Homo economicus by factoring in psychological and sociological forces.
Homo economicus perhaps doesn't behave as wisely as he should when it comes to spending — and worse, he's far from financially literate.
Delving even deeper, there is evidence that inculcating the values of
homo economicus leads people to suppress empathy and solidarity in favor of egoism and opportunism.
Thrown back on our own resources we feel betrayed, lonely, and isolated We
become homo economicus and are stripped of our self - imposed illusions about the future.
The economic theory based
on Homo economicus has no place in for any notion of fairness or justice.
I cite this study as indicating that viewing people as
Homo economicus deeply affects perceptions and actions.
All people are understood in terms of the
traditional Homo economicus, a rational self - interested individualist who sells labor and buys goods in the market.
Migration far from birthplaces tends to
produce Homo economicus; minimal geographic mobility supports Homo socialis.
Homo economicus would likely not act contrary to his stated intentions — unless, that is, he had no choice.
Homo economicus is happy after buying a new 42 - inch LCD television; real people are often disappointed when they glimpse their neighbour's 52 - incher.
Homo economicus would take the teaser rate but keep making new purchases on his old card.
Classical economists assume consumers are impressive indeed, and this stems from their love affair with a creature as elusive as the New Consumer himself:
Homo economicus.
NOË:
Homo economicus I don't think exists really in humans because they are not that rational.
You're saying that
Homo economicus is really — that the idea of that is probably more fully present in other animals, other than humans then, yeah?
But is
homo economicus an accurate reflection of human nature?
Indeed, we sometimes call
ourselves homo economicus because of our ability to trade, to create markets, to respond rationally to supply and demand.
The ethical paradigm of neoclassical economics centers on «
homo economicus,» who is driven by self - interest to seek the maximization of subjective material preferences — which is shown to be achievable (under highly restrictive assumptions) by competitive markets.
So as I'm sure you well know, Richard Thaler won the Nobel in economics for essentially arguing that
Homo economicus is greatly overrated.
They debunked «
homo economicus.»
Homo economicus is a figment of the imagination of various charlatans.
From this astute observation, economists derived the notion of
Homo economicus, that is, human beings in their economic role, as self - interested, self - contained, individuals.
Homo economicus is an individual human being who rationally seeks to gain as many goods as possible for as little labor as possible.
But economists rarely comment on the fact that
Homo economicus is abstracted from the relational and communal character of actual human beings.
There it is very clear that
Homo economicus is individualistically conceived.
Homo economicus is viewed as an atomic individual related to others only in market transactions and contracts.
Economists abstracted this tendency from all the other human tendencies and attributed it to
Homo economicus.
The values of community life and creative work are destroyed for the sake of the greater wealth that can be produced when people behave in the manner of
Homo economicus.
Economists all know that
Homo economicus is an abstraction from the fullness of human reality.
Homo economicus is also understood to have insatiable wants.
In addition this theory and practice are based on a highly individualistic view of
homo economicus.
This is true even if one does posit
a Homo economicus as a purely hypothetical idea to be pursued as social mathematics.
Oddly, the prudence - obsessed economists have themselves been forced recently in their very mathematics to admit that
Homo economicus must live with an identity formed in a family within a community of speech constrained by virtues (a non-believer would call it, in summary, «culture»; a Christian would call it «a moral universe»).
We are Homo politicus as well as
Homo economicus.
People are not by nature primarily
Homo economicus.
Homo economicus is a self - contained individual with no internal relations to others.