The Economic Approach to Human BehaviorSince 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. |
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 |
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 |
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Common terms and phrases
allocation altruism amount assortive mating assumed assumption average Becker budget Coase theorem commodities compensated constraint consumer consumption correlation crime decisions decline demand curves determined discrimination discussion economic approach economists effect efficient egoist elasticity of demand equal equation example expenditures factor fertility firms forgone earnings full income gain from marriage greater household production function human capital implications important income effects income elasticity increase indifference curves inputs interaction Journal of Political less loss function marginal cost marginal utility married maximize measured money income Negroes number of children number of offenses opportunity set optimal sorting parents percentage persons Political Economy polygyny positively related preferences punishment rational real income reduce relative prices responses result rise sector shadow price social environment social income sociobiology spent substitution substitution effect tastes theorem theory tion total output traits transfers United utility function variables wage rates women