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Arguing About Tastes makes the case that economists should abandon the principle that preferences are fixed and instead incorporate into their work how context and experience shape individual tastes.
List of contents
Preface
Introduction: Gary Becker on Prenups
1. De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum: The Mainstream Economic Account of Individual Behavior
2. Intrinsic Motivation
3. Internalizing the Welfare of Specific Others
4. Two (or Three) Heterodox Books
5. Choice, Preference, And Utility in Dynamic Contexts
6. Some (Social) Psychology: Self-Perception and Attribution Theories
7. Intrinsic Motivation Undermined by Extrinsic Rewards?
8. Why Are “Social Promises” Unsecured?
9. The Quality of Kreps’s Performance Matters as Well
10. Intrinsic Motivation to Do What, Exactly?
11. Internalization of the Other Party’s Welfare
12. Dynamics Based on Bem’s Self-Perception Theory
13. Should Economists Move in These Directions?
Commentary, Joseph E. Stiglitz
Commentary, Alessandra Casella
Response to the Comments Of Professors Stiglitz and Casella
Appendix
Notes
References
Index
About the author
David M. Kreps is the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management and Economics Emeritus at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a leading economic theorist whose contributions span areas including choice theory, financial markets, and game theory. Among his many books are Game Theory and Economic Modeling (1990), Microeconomics for Managers (second edition, 2019), and Microeconomic Foundations I and II (2012, 2023). Kreps has received honors including the John Bates Clark Medal, the John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science, the Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics, and the CME Group–MSRI Prize in Innovative Quantitative Applications.
Alessandra Casella is professor of economics and political science at Columbia University, where she codirects the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy.
Joseph E. Stiglitz is University Professor at Columbia University and a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Summary
Arguing About Tastes makes the case that economists should abandon the principle that preferences are fixed and instead incorporate into their work how context and experience shape individual tastes.
