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Striving for Balance in Economics : Towards a Theory of the Social Determination of Behavior / Karla Hoff
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository (formerly "World Bank E-Library Publications") Available online
View online- Format:
- Book
- Government document
- Author/Creator:
- Hoff, Karla.
- Series:
- Policy research working papers.
- World Bank e-Library.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Altruism.
- Behavioral Economics.
- Brain.
- Cognition.
- Cultural Policy.
- Culture.
- Culture & Development.
- Economic Theory & Research.
- Education.
- Educational Sciences.
- Environment.
- Environmental Economics & Policies.
- Gender.
- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth.
- Priming.
- Psychology.
- Rationality.
- Role Model.
- Social Development.
- Sociology.
- Local Subjects:
- Altruism.
- Behavioral Economics.
- Brain.
- Cognition.
- Cultural Policy.
- Culture.
- Culture & Development.
- Economic Theory & Research.
- Education.
- Educational Sciences.
- Environment.
- Environmental Economics & Policies.
- Gender.
- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth.
- Priming.
- Psychology.
- Rationality.
- Role Model.
- Social Development.
- Sociology.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (76 pages)
- Other Title:
- Striving for Balance in Economics
- Place of Publication:
- Washington, D.C. : The World Bank, 2016.
- System Details:
- data file
- Summary:
- 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 the concept of the decision-maker in standard economics is the rational actor and, in early work in behavioral economics, the quasi-rational actor influenced by the context of the moment of decision-making, 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 individual 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.
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