Are People Rational in the Economists Sense.
Topic A:
Are people rational (in the economists sense) and reasonable (in the lawyers sense)? Whatever your answer to that question, does it matter?
Human behavior is a complex subject and people make decisions everyday that will not only affect themselves, but other people around them. This essay will attempt to show whether people are rational in an economist’s sense, and reasonable in a lawyer’s sense. Whatever the outcome, there will be a discussion into if it matters, and how this behavior is useful for lawyers and economists in coming to decisions, and making predictions.
Most generally, a necessary, natural or logical association or adaptation between ends and the means for their attainment defines rational behaviour (Boudon, 1982). Choice is said to be rational when it is deliberative and consistent. The decision maker has thought about what he or she will do and can give a reasoned justification for the choice (Ullen,1999). Therefore one expects that there will be no wild and inexplicable swings in the objects of their choices and that the means chosen to effectuate the goals of the decision maker will be reasonably well-suited to the attainment of those goals (Nozick, 1993).
Economics is described by Lionel Robbins as the science, which describes human behaviour as a relationship between (given) ends and scarce means, which have alternative uses. Consequently assumptions have to be made about people, how they behave, and how they make decisions. Moreover, the behavior of an economy reflects the behavior of the individuals that make up that economy (Mankiw and Taylor, 2006), supporting how important these assumptions are.
Economists assume people are rational with well-ordered preferences (Wessels 2006). Moreover, rational choice theory states these preferences are transitive and rational people seek and act to maximize utility, which they derive from those preferences, subject to various constraints (Ullen, 1999). Another assumption within
Are people rational (in the economists sense) and reasonable (in the lawyers sense)? Whatever your answer to that question, does it matter?
Human behavior is a complex subject and people make decisions everyday that will not only affect themselves, but other people around them. This essay will attempt to show whether people are rational in an economist’s sense, and reasonable in a lawyer’s sense. Whatever the outcome, there will be a discussion into if it matters, and how this behavior is useful for lawyers and economists in coming to decisions, and making predictions.
Most generally, a necessary, natural or logical association or adaptation between ends and the means for their attainment defines rational behaviour (Boudon, 1982). Choice is said to be rational when it is deliberative and consistent. The decision maker has thought about what he or she will do and can give a reasoned justification for the choice (Ullen,1999). Therefore one expects that there will be no wild and inexplicable swings in the objects of their choices and that the means chosen to effectuate the goals of the decision maker will be reasonably well-suited to the attainment of those goals (Nozick, 1993).
Economics is described by Lionel Robbins as the science, which describes human behaviour as a relationship between (given) ends and scarce means, which have alternative uses. Consequently assumptions have to be made about people, how they behave, and how they make decisions. Moreover, the behavior of an economy reflects the behavior of the individuals that make up that economy (Mankiw and Taylor, 2006), supporting how important these assumptions are.
Economists assume people are rational with well-ordered preferences (Wessels 2006). Moreover, rational choice theory states these preferences are transitive and rational people seek and act to maximize utility, which they derive from those preferences, subject to various constraints (Ullen, 1999). Another assumption within
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