Accounting for tastes / Gary S. Becker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Becker, Gary S. (Gary Stanley), 1930-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consumers' preferences.

Consumer behavior.

Consumption (Economics)--Social aspects.

Consumption (Economics).

Human capital.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288p. ) ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 1996.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Economists generally accept as given the old adage that there's no accounting for taste. Nobel Laureate Gary Becker disagrees, and in this collection confronts the problem of preferences and values.

Economists generally accept as a given the old adage that there's no accounting for tastes. Nobel Laureate Gary Becker disagrees, and in this lively new collection he confronts the problem of preferences and values: how they are formed and how they affect our behavior. He argues that past experiences and social influences form two basic capital stocks: personal and social. He then applies these concepts to assessing the effects of advertising, the power of peer pressure, the nature of addiction, and the function of habits. This framework promises to illuminate many other realms of social life previously considered off-limits by economists.

Contents:

Part I: Personal Capital 1. Preferences and Values De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum A Theory of Rational Addiction Rational Addiction and the Effect of Price on Consumption An Empirical Analysis of Cigarette Addiction Habits, Addictions, and Traditions Part 2: Social Capital The Economic Way of Looking at Life A Theory of Social Interactions A Note on Restaurant Pricing and Other Examples of Social Influences on Price A Simple Theory of Advertising as a Good or Bad Norms and the Formation of Preferences Spouses and Beggars: Love and Sympathy Acknowledgments References Index

Notes:

Originally published: 1996.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-258) and index.

ISBN:

9780674020658

0674020650

OCLC:

923117009