Farewell to Homo Oeconomicus (tags)
Capitalism is not running so well. Is this because people are judged wrongly with misguided models? Don't competition and cooperation strengthen each other? Why is the SF-condo model praised to the skies and the Vancouver BC- community center model scorned as unrealistic?
Farewell to Homo Oeconomicus (tags)
The model of homo oeconomicus is antiquated and over-simplified. Dominant economic models are not based on a realistic picture of humans... The model does not know different human human motives that could be differently activated depending on the context.
Patients are not Customers (tags)
Mainstream economics is always based on the idea of homo oeconomicus, an egoist who maximizes his own advantages. In economics, the extreme form of egoism is treated as rationality. July 30 was Medicare's 50th birthday and August 14 is Social Security's 80th birthday. Celebrate!
Against the Homo Oeconomicus (tags)
The homo oeconomicus supposedly acts completely rationally and makes his decisions in a social vacuum. Mark Buchanan introduces the discipline of social physics. He criticizes Gary Becker for replacing persons with pseudo-subjects w/o bodies, history and society.
Homo Oeconomicus and Economic Theories (tags)
The neoclassical theory dominant today is different from the Keynesian theory that defined the decades after the 2nd World War. "Bad ideas flourish because theya re in the interest of powerful groups." (Paul Krugman)