Homo Economicus

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Homo Economicus

A person that desires to maximize his/her needs or desires. Homo economicus is used most of the time to refer to the rational economic actor, who desires wealth, does not desire to work if it can be avoided, and is able to find ways achieve those ends. This assumption is accepted by many economists, especially those who follow rational choice theory, but it remains controversial. The concept of homo economicus was developed by utilitarian thinkers, and contrasts with the constructs of behavioral economics.
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To renew our economic picture of the world, some very interesting and progressive works have recently rejected this narrow picture of the economic person, rediscovering the Kantian person with her or his capability of living with (and for) higher needs and, therefore, of being rational in a much broader sense (e.
The market as an instituted realm of social action
The economic person in sociological context: case studies in the mediation of self interest.
Rationality, culture and welfare entitlements: a note on change and adaptation
One of the chapters that passed both relevance and quality tests with good marks was Thanawala's, "The Economic Person in a Global Society.
Looking Beyond the Individualism and Homo Economicus of Neoclassical Economics: A Collection of Original Essays Dedicated to the Memory of Peter L. Danner, Our Friend and Colleague
Perhaps no one today understands the economic agent as person better than Danner (2002) in his The Economic Person.
Requiem for Homo economicus
Hess's reading of how Wordsworth constructed the Lake District as "a kind of open-air museum" (173) in his Guide through the District of the Lakes tends to reiterate points made in the second chapter: that it privileges a disembodied, stationed observer and empties the landscape of social and economic persons and activities.
Scott Hess. William Wordsworth and the Ecology of Authorship: The Roots of Environmentalism in Nineteenth-Century Culture
Women, by dint of their often conflicting responsibilities to home, work and community, are perfect examples of what Folbre calls "Imperfect Rational Somewhat Economic Persons," distinguishing them from the "Rational Economic Men" who typically inhabit the "tidy, predictable, rule bound world" of conventional economic theory.
Who Pays for the Kids? Gender and the Structures of Constraint

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