Striving for Balance in Economics : Towards a Theory of The Social Determination of Behavior

This paper is an attempt to broaden economic discourse by importing insights into human behavior not just from psychology, but also from sociology and anthropology. Whereas in standard economics the concept of the decision-maker is the rational actor, and in early work in behavioral economics it is...

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Main Authors:	Hoff, Karla, Stiglitz, Joseph E.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	en_US
Published:	Elsevier 2016
Subjects:	behavioral economics culture gender role model sociology
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24253

id	okr-10986-24253
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-242532021-05-25T10:54:36Z Striving for Balance in Economics : Towards a Theory of The Social Determination of Behavior Hoff, Karla Stiglitz, Joseph E. behavioral economics culture gender role model sociology This paper is an attempt to broaden economic discourse by importing insights into human behavior not just from psychology, but also from sociology and anthropology. Whereas in standard economics the concept of the decision-maker is the rational actor, and in early work in behavioral economics it is the quasi-rational actor influenced by the context of the moment of decision, in some recent work in behavioral economics, the decision-maker could be called the enculturated actor. This actor's preferences, perception, and cognition are subject to two deep social influences: (a) the social contexts to which he has become exposed and, especially, accustomed; and (b) the cultural mental models—including categories, identities, narratives, and worldviews—that he uses to process information. The paper traces how these factors shape behavior through the endogenous determination of preferences and the lenses through which individuals see the world—their perception and interpretation of situations. The paper offers a tentative taxonomy of the social determinants of behavior and describes the results of controlled and natural experiments that only a broader view of these determinants can plausibly explain. The perspective suggests more realistic models of human behavior for explaining outcomes and designing policies. 2016-05-06T20:48:44Z 2016-05-06T20:48:44Z 2016-06 Journal Article Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 0167-2681 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24253 en_US CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Elsevier Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	behavioral economics culture gender role model sociology
spellingShingle	behavioral economics culture gender role model sociology Hoff, Karla Stiglitz, Joseph E. Striving for Balance in Economics : Towards a Theory of The Social Determination of Behavior
description	This paper is an attempt to broaden economic discourse by importing insights into human behavior not just from psychology, but also from sociology and anthropology. Whereas in standard economics the concept of the decision-maker is the rational actor, and in early work in behavioral economics it is the quasi-rational actor influenced by the context of the moment of decision, in some recent work in behavioral economics, the decision-maker could be called the enculturated actor. This actor's preferences, perception, and cognition are subject to two deep social influences: (a) the social contexts to which he has become exposed and, especially, accustomed; and (b) the cultural mental models—including categories, identities, narratives, and worldviews—that he uses to process information. The paper traces how these factors shape behavior through the endogenous determination of preferences and the lenses through which individuals see the world—their perception and interpretation of situations. The paper offers a tentative taxonomy of the social determinants of behavior and describes the results of controlled and natural experiments that only a broader view of these determinants can plausibly explain. The perspective suggests more realistic models of human behavior for explaining outcomes and designing policies.
format	Journal Article
author	Hoff, Karla Stiglitz, Joseph E.
author_facet	Hoff, Karla Stiglitz, Joseph E.
author_sort	Hoff, Karla
title	Striving for Balance in Economics : Towards a Theory of The Social Determination of Behavior
title_short	Striving for Balance in Economics : Towards a Theory of The Social Determination of Behavior
title_full	Striving for Balance in Economics : Towards a Theory of The Social Determination of Behavior
title_fullStr	Striving for Balance in Economics : Towards a Theory of The Social Determination of Behavior
title_full_unstemmed	Striving for Balance in Economics : Towards a Theory of The Social Determination of Behavior
title_sort	striving for balance in economics : towards a theory of the social determination of behavior
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2016
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24253
_version_	1764456243674480640

Striving for Balance in Economics : Towards a Theory of The Social Determination of Behavior

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