The Economic Approach to Human Behavior

Gary S. Becker

University of Chicago Press, 1976 - Business & Economics - 314 pages

Since his pioneering application of economic analysis to racial discrimination, Gary S. Becker has shown that an economic approach can provide a unified framework for understanding all human behavior. In a highly readable selection of essays Becker applies this approach to various aspects of human activity, including social interactions; crime and punishment; marriage, fertility, and the family; and "irrational" behavior.

"Becker's highly regarded work in economics is most notable in the imaginative application of 'the economic approach' to a surprising breadth of human activity. Becker's essays over the years have inevitably inspired a surge of research activity in testimony to the richness of his insights into human activities lying 'outside' the traditionally conceived economic markets. Perhaps no economist in our time has contributed more to expanding the area of interest to economists than Becker, and a number of these thought-provoking essays are collected in this book."—Choice

Gary Becker was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 1992.

What people are saying

Review: The Economic Approach to Human Behavior

User Review  - angela - Goodreads

An economic look at human behaviour... even though we were only supposed to read "selected chapters" I couldn't help myself - I read the whole thing. It was fascinating in an amusing, reductionist sort of way.

Contents

• The Economic Approach to Human Behavior: 3
• Price and Prejudice: 15
• Effective Discrimination: 17
• Law and Politics: 31
• Competition and Democracy: 33
• Crime and Punishment An Economic Approach: 39
• Time and Household Production: 87
• A Theory of the Allocation of Time: 89
• The Allocation of Time and Goods over Time: 115
• On the New Theory of Consumer Behavior: 131
• Irrational Behavior: 151
• Irrational Behavior and Economic Theory: 153
• Marriage Fertility and the Family: 169
• An Economic Analysis of Fertility: 171
• On the Interaction between the Quantity and Quality of Children: 195
• A Theory of Marriage: 205
• Social Interactions: 251
• A Theory of Social Interactions: 253
• Altruism Egoism and Genetic Fitness Economics and Sociobiology: 282
• References: 295
• Index: 310

About the author

Gary Stanley Becker is an American economist known for his efforts to extend economic analysis to social problems, especially those involving race and gender discrimination, crime and punishment, and the formation and dissolution of families. The essence of his contribution is that human behaviors rationally based on self-interest and the economic incentives of the marketplace. Cost-benefit analysis is central to Becker's analysis of social phenomena. He argues that couples tend to have fewer children when the wife works and has a better-paying job, when subsidies and tax deductions for dependents are smaller, and when the cost of educating children rises. Becker also argues that couples divorce when they no longer believe they are better off by staying married. Becker received a Nobel Prize in 1992.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Economic Approach to Human Behavior; Economic theory; Phoenix Book; The Economic Approach to Human Behavior, Gary Stanley Becker
• Author: Gary S. Becker
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1976
• ISBN: 0226041123, 9780226041124
• Length: 314 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Economics / Theory; Business & Economics / General; Psychology / Applied Psychology; Social Science / Sociology / General