IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/spr/sprchp/978-3-031-34494-7_3.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Custom and Path Dependence in Economics

In: Human Capital

Author

Listed:
  • Salvatore Rizzello

    (University of Salento)

Abstract

This chapter deals with the role of customs in economics. With few exceptions, economists reserved scarce interest in this topic. Some classical authors counterposed custom to market competition while considering the former as limiting development and the latter as progressing it. By following cognitive economics, and particularly Schlicht’s idea that custom derives from a predisposition of the human mind to clarity, this chapter avoids that dichotomy by investigating the real relationship between them and its relevant implications for economics. In this framework, path dependence emerges as a unifying element which permeates the indissoluble and complex process and, starting from the construction of personal knowledge, reaches the social dimension of customs. This leads to meaningful perspectives for economic analysis, especially in reference to uncertainty, free will and efficacy. On a methodological level, the idea of a complete return of economics to social sciences is also supported.

Suggested Citation

  • Salvatore Rizzello, 2023. "Custom and Path Dependence in Economics," Springer Books, in: Human Capital, chapter 0, pages 37-62, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-34494-7_3
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-34494-7_3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-34494-7_3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.