[PDF] The Rise And Fall Of Homo Economicus eBook

Author : Yannis Papadogiannis
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 27,76 MB
Release : 2014-08-05
Category : Economic man
ISBN : 9781499646672

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For financial journalist Yannis Papadogiannis, the problem with the economic science that failed to predict the financial crisis that began unfolding in 2007 is clear. While modern economic theory relies on rational humans, The Rise and Fall of Homo Economicus busts the myth of the rational human wide open, demonstrating how, in the real world, Homo sapiens are far from fully rational creatures. Papadogiannis walks readers through the history of modern economics and reveals a consistent pattern of certainty and the illusion of control among economists leading into every crisis since the seventeenth century. He presents findings from disciplines such as neuroscience, psychology, and sociology that overturn the economist's idealized view of human nature, revealing that rationality is but one quality ruling behavior. In terms that anyone can understand, and drawing from a vast bibliography of well-known references, the book contrasts the imaginary universe of modern economics with the complex, dynamic, chaotic reality that more accurately describes our existence. A stinging indictment of economic science for its role in creating the crisis of 2007, The Rise and Fall of Homo Economicus is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding how our society functions or exploring ways to make economic science better serve us.

Author : Daniel Cohen
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 132 pages
File Size : 32,66 MB
Release : 2014-06-13
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0745685323

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The West has long defined the pursuit of happiness in economic terms but now, in the wake of the 2007-8 financial crisis, it is time to think again about what constitutes our happiness. In this wide-ranging new book, the leading economist Daniel Cohen traces our current malaise back to the rise of homo economicus: for the last 200 years, the modern world has defined happiness in terms of material gain. Homo economicus has cast aside its rivals, homo ethicus and homo empathicus, and spread its neo-Darwinian logic far and wide. Yet, instead of bringing happiness, homo economicus traps human beings in a world devoid of any ideals. We are left feeling empty and dissatisfied. Today more and more people are beginning to recognize that competition and material gain are not the only things that matter in life. The central paradox of our era is that we look to the economy to give direction to our world at the very time when social needs are migrating toward sectors that are hard to place within the scope of market logic. Health, education, scientific research, and the world of the Internet form the heart of our post-industrial societies, but none of these belong to the traditional economic mould. While human creativity is higher than ever, homo economicus imposes himself like a sad prophet, a killjoy of the new age. Drawing on a rich array of examples, Cohen explores the new digital and genetic revolutions and examines the limitations of homo economicus in our rapidly transforming world. As human beings have an extraordinary ability to adapt, he argues that we need to rebalance the relation between competition and cooperation in favour of the latter. This thought-provoking analysis of our contemporary predicament will be of great value to anyone interested in the relationship between what happens in our economies and our personal happiness.

Author : Peter Fleming
Publisher : Pluto Press (UK)
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 19,98 MB
Release : 2017
Category : Capitalism
ISBN : 9780745399409

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For neoclassical economists, Homo economicus, or economic human, represents the ideal employee: an energetic worker bee that is a rational yet competitive decision-maker. Alternatively, one could view the concept as a cold and selfish workaholic endlessly seeking the accumulation of money and advancement--a chilling representation of capitalism. Or perhaps, as Peter Fleming argues, Homo economicus does not actually exist at all. In The Death of Homo Economicus, Fleming presents this controversial claim with the same fierce logic and perception that launched his Guardian column into popularity. Fleming argues that as an invented model of a human being, Homo economicus is, in reality, a tool used by economists and capitalists to manage our social world through the state, business, and even family. As workers, we are barraged with constant reminders that we should always strive toward this ideal persona. It's implied--and sometimes directly stated--that if we don't then we are failures. Ironically, the people most often encouraged to emulate this model are those most predisposed to fail due to their socioeconomic circumstances: the poor, the unemployed, students, and prisoners. Fleming illuminates why a peculiar proactive negativity now marks everyday life in capitalist societies, and he explores how this warped, unattainable model for workers would cause chaos if enacted to the letter. Timely and revelatory, The Death of Homo Economicus offers a sharp, scathing critique of who we are supposed to be in the workplace and beyond.

Author : Peter Fleming
Publisher : Pluto Press (UK)
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 26,24 MB
Release : 2017
Category : Capitalism
ISBN : 9780745399423

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In today's workplaces we work harder and longer, labouring under the illusion that this will bring us more wealth. As this myth becomes increasingly preposterous, it's time to understand why we believe in it, and where it came from.The Death of Homo Economicus explores the origin of this oppressive myth, in order to destroy it. The story begins with the creation of a fake persona labelled the 'dollar-hunting man', invented by economists Adam Smith and Friedrich Hayek. Today, this persona, driven by competition and ego, is used by politicians and managers to draw a veil over the terrible reality of work under capitalism.Creeping into all aspects of life, the desire to constantly compete and accumulate must be resisted if we are to create a better way of life for all.

Author : Martha Fineman
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 535 pages
File Size : 42,22 MB
Release : 2018-08-06
Category : Law
ISBN : 150172407X

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"The essays in this volume confront the inroads that economics has made into the legal academy.... Law and Economics uses principles of neoclassical economics to develop laws and social policies that maintain if not bolster current allocations of power."—from the Introduction The Law and Economics school has had a significant impact on the legal and governmental landscape in the United States. It posits a perfectly rational "economic man"—homo economicus—who is unconstrained by familial and communal ties and who can and should make decisions solely in light of considerations of economic value. Feminism Confronts Homo Economicus offers a major intervention in debates about how law has come under the influence of economic principles. Drawing on the latest thinking in the fields of feminist legal theory, critical legal studies, and feminist economics, the essays critique the notion that legal and policy decisions should be made solely through the lens of economics. While the contributors question the wholesale incorporation of the neoclassical economic model into legal analysis, they do not all discard economic analysis and theory. Situated at the intersection of feminism, law, and economics, Feminism Confronts Homo Economicus will appeal to scholars and students of these disciplines as well as policy analysts and social theorists interested in family, education, labor, and welfare.

Author : Eyal Zamir
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 641 pages
File Size : 33,27 MB
Release : 2018
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0190901349

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In the past few decades, economic analysis of law has been challenged by a growing body of experimental and empirical studies that attest to prevalent and systematic deviations from the assumptions of economic rationality. While the findings on bounded rationality and heuristics and biases were initially perceived as antithetical to standard economic and legal-economic analysis, over time they have been largely integrated into mainstream economic analysis, including economic analysis of law. Moreover, the impact of behavioral insights has long since transcended purely economic analysis of law: in recent years, the behavioral movement has become one of the most influential developments in legal scholarship in general. Behavioral Law and Economics offers a state-of-the-art overview of the field. Eyal Zamir and Doron Teichman survey the entire body of psychological research that lies at the basis of behavioral analysis of law, and critically evaluate the core methodological questions of this area of research. Following this, the book discusses the fundamental normative questions stemming from the psychological findings on bounded rationality, and explores their implications for setting the law's goals and designing the means to attain them. The book then provides a systematic and critical examination of the contributions of behavioral studies to all major fields of law including: property, contracts, consumer protection, torts, corporate, securities regulation, antitrust, administrative, constitutional, international, criminal, and evidence law, as well as to the behavior of key players in the legal arena: litigants and judicial decision-makers.

Author : Jermo van Nes
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 228 pages
File Size : 10,68 MB
Release : 2022
Category : Economic anthropology
ISBN : 3030846903

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This open access book offers a multidisciplinary dialogue on relational anthropology in contemporary economics. A particular view of the human being is often assumed in economic models, but seldom acknowledged let alone explicated. Addressing this neglected area of research in economic studies, altogether the contributors touch upon the importance and potential of virtues, the notions of freedom and self-love, the potential of simulation models, the dialectics of love, and questions of methodology in constructing a relational anthropology for contemporary economics. The overall result is a highly informative and constructive dialogue, establishing inter alia a research agenda for future collaborative and multidisciplinary study.

Author : Michelle Baddeley
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 169 pages
File Size : 30,40 MB
Release : 2017-01-19
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 019107117X

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Traditionally economists have based their economic predictions on the assumption that humans are super-rational creatures, using the information we are given efficiently and generally making selfish decisions that work well for us as individuals. Economists also assume that we're doing the very best we can possibly do - not only for today, but over our whole lifetimes too. But increasingly the study of behavioural economics is revealing that our lives are not that simple. Instead, our decisions are complicated by our own psychology. Each of us makes mistakes every day. We don't always know what's best for us and, even if we do, we might not have the self-control to deliver on our best intentions. We struggle to stay on diets, to get enough exercise and to manage our money. We misjudge risky situations. We are prone to herding: sometimes peer pressure leads us blindly to copy others around us; other times copying others helps us to learn quickly about new, unfamiliar situations. This Very Short Introduction explores the reasons why we make irrational decisions; how we decide quickly; why we make mistakes in risky situations; our tendency to procrastination; and how we are affected by social influences, personality, mood and emotions. The implications of understanding the rationale for our own financial behaviour are huge. Behavioural economics could help policy-makers to understand the people behind their policies, enabling them to design more effective policies, while at the same time we could find ourselves assaulted by increasingly savvy marketing. Michelle Baddeley concludes by looking forward, to see what the future of behavioural economics holds for us. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Author : Gordon Brady
Publisher : Univ Publ Assn
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 40,24 MB
Release : 1994-08-26
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1461723760

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This collection of previously unpublished expository writings by Gordon Tullock on themes ranging from game theory, externalities, public choice, rent-seeking, law and economics, and economic progress is representative of the breadth of Tullock's career. As co-founder of Public Choice, Tullock has been a major contributor to our understanding of the logic of collective choice and the politics of collective action. Tullock's insights have helped establish the unambiguous message that political, social, and economic institutions affect individual behavior whether in economics or political markets. Tullock's hypotheses, proposed laws, and paradoxes have shaped the development of public choice, as well as charting new areas in law, economics, and sociobiology. In sorting through Tullock's personal papers, the editors learned and here present the many dimensions of the man and the breadth of his interests. From the papers, we can piece together much of Tullock's personal history. For example, there are myths surrounding Gordon Tullock that can be laid to rest: his birthplace, the lack of a baccalaureate degree, the "one" course that marks his formal training in economics, and his career prior to his academic emergence in the mid-1950s.