Social preferences aren't preferences

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Year: 2010
Volume: 73
Issue: 1
Pages: 77-82

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Experimental economists robustly observe that people in the laboratory regularly make choices that result in lower payoffs for themselves. When faced with this paradox of preferences, economists posit that there must be two meanings of preferences: preferences for the self and preferences for the social. In this paper I argue that this is an example of economists forcing ordinary human behavior to fit their models. The force of my argument is to confute the notion that an individual's expression of so-called social preferences as an action can be represented as a set of separable and private utilitarian "preferences" within him.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jeborg:v:73:y:2010:i:1:p:77-82
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-29