The Economic Approach to Human Behavior

Fülszöveg

Since his pioneering application of economic analysis to racial discrimination, Gary S. Becker has shown that an economic approach can provide a unified frameworkfor understanding ail human behavior. In a highly readable sélection of essays Becker applies this approach to vârious aspects of human activity, including social interactions; crime and punishment; marriage, fertility, and tt16 family; and "irrational" behavior.
Becker's key concepts in the economic approach are market equilibrium, stable preferences, and maximizing behavior. These concepts can predict responses to market prices or to "shadow" prices—imputed values of goods and services, such as ideas ortime, that are not sold in any market. Each chapter of the book considers a différent aspect of human behavior, showing that the method is broad enough to explain décisions as mundane as buying a loaf dîpread or as monumental as choosing a spouse.
"Becker's highly regarded work in économies is most notable in the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Since his pioneering application of economic analysis to racial discrimination, Gary S. Becker has shown that an economic approach can provide a unified frameworkfor understanding ail human behavior. In a highly readable sélection of essays Becker applies this approach to vârious aspects of human activity, including social interactions; crime and punishment; marriage, fertility, and tt16 family; and "irrational" behavior.
Becker's key concepts in the economic approach are market equilibrium, stable preferences, and maximizing behavior. These concepts can predict responses to market prices or to "shadow" prices—imputed values of goods and services, such as ideas ortime, that are not sold in any market. Each chapter of the book considers a différent aspect of human behavior, showing that the method is broad enough to explain décisions as mundane as buying a loaf dîpread or as monumental as choosing a spouse.
"Becker's highly regarded work in économies is most notable in the imaginative application of 'the economic approach' to a surprising breadth of human activity. Becker's essays overthe years have inevitably inspired a surge of resaarch activity in testimony to the richness of his insights into human activities lying 'outside' the traditionally conceived economic markets. Per-haps no economist in our time has contributed more to expanding the area of interest to economists than Becker, and a number of these thodght-provoking essays are collected in this book."—Choice Vissza