IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rdg/emxxdp/em-dp2021-02.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economics and duty-motivated choices

Author

Listed:
  • Giovanni Razzu

    (Department of Economics, University of Reading)

Abstract

We study the relationship between economics and duties, the latter considered as deep, intrinsic moral obligations that motivate individuals. We first define duty in a way that could be amenable to work within the tools of decision theory, distinguishing between perfect and imperfect duty-motivated choices. Finally, we apply standard decision theory to assess how duties relate to economics, particularly to rationality. Three main findings emerge. One, perfect duty-motivated choice is rational. Two, when imperfect duty is at play, rationality conditions can be violated. Third, by making use of the difference between two representations of the maximisation problem - the relational and the real valued utility function - we show that individuals motivated by duty can choose a maximal while optimising their preference rankings; instead, maximisation of utility may not be possible under duty-motivated choices that supervene the local non satiation assumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Giovanni Razzu, 2021. "Economics and duty-motivated choices," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2021-02, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    • Handle: RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2021-02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/economics/emdp202102.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keith Dowding, 2002. "Revealed Preference and External Reference," Rationality and Society, , vol. 14(3), pages 259-284, August.
    2. Wulf Gaertner & Yongsheng Xu, 1999. "On rationalizability of choice functions: A characterization of the median," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 16(4), pages 629-638.
    3. S. R. Osmani, 2019. "Rationality, Behavioural Economics and Amartya Sen," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 162-180, April.
    4. Wulf Gaertner & Yongsheng Xu, 1999. "On the structure of choice under different external references," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 14(3), pages 609-620.
    5. Amartya Sen, 1997. "Maximization and the Act of Choice," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(4), pages 745-780, July.
    6. Stefano DellaVigna, 2009. "Psychology and Economics: Evidence from the Field," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 315-372, June.
    7. Matthew Rabin, 1998. "Psychology and Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 11-46, March.
    8. Roemer, John E., 2015. "Kantian optimization: A microfoundation for cooperation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 45-57.
    9. John C. Harsanyi, 1955. "Cardinal Welfare, Individualistic Ethics, and Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(4), pages 309-309.
    10. Amartya K. Sen, 1971. "Choice Functions and Revealed Preference," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 38(3), pages 307-317.
    11. Frank, Robert H, 1987. "If Homo Economicus Could Choose His Own Utility Function, Would He Want One with a Conscience?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(4), pages 593-604, September.
    12. Screpanti, Ernesto & Zamagni, Stefano, 2005. "An Outline of the History of Economic Thought," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 2, number 9780199279142.
    13. Etzioni, Amitai, 1986. "The Case for a Multiple-Utility Conception," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(2), pages 159-184, October.
    14. Adrian Pabst, 2018. "Political economy of virtue: civil economy, happiness and public trust in the thought of Antonio Genovesi," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 582-604, July.
    15. Gaertner, Wulf & Xu, Yongsheng, 1997. "Optimization and external reference; a comparison of three axiomatic systems," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 57-62, November.
    16. Sen, Amartya, 2005. "Why Exactly Is Commitment Important For Rationality?," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(1), pages 5-14, April.
    17. Collard, David, 1975. "Edgeworth's Propositions on Altruism," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 85(338), pages 355-360, June.
    18. Nick Baigent, 1995. "Behind The Veil Of Preference," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 88-101, March.
    19. Susumu Cato & Adrien Lutz, 2018. "Kenneth Arrow, moral obligations, and public policies," Working Papers halshs-01973898, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Walter Bossert & Kotaro Suzumura, 2011. "Rationality, external norms, and the epistemic value of menus," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 37(4), pages 729-741, October.
    2. Yazdanabad, Hadi Pahlevan, 2024. "Justification within and between social contexts with the possibility of choice deferral," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Lanzi, Diego, 2011. "Frames as choice superstructures," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 115-123, April.
    4. Tyson, Christopher J., 2008. "Cognitive constraints, contraction consistency, and the satisficing criterion," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 51-70, January.
    5. Manzini, Paola & Mariotti, Marco, 2004. "Rationalizing Boundedly Rational Choice: Sequential Rationalizability and Rational Shortlist Methods," IZA Discussion Papers 1239, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Tóbiás, Áron, 2023. "Rational Altruism," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 50-80.
    7. Bruce Ian Carlin & Simon Gervais, 2009. "Work Ethic, Employment Contracts, and Firm Value," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(2), pages 785-821, April.
    8. Sebastian Silva-Leander & Suman Seth, 2017. "Revealed preferences with plural motives: axiomatic foundations of normative assessments in non-utilitarian welfare economics," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 48(3), pages 505-517, March.
    9. Wulf Gaertner & Yongsheng Xu, 1999. "Rationality And External Reference," Rationality and Society, , vol. 11(2), pages 169-185, May.
    10. Mark White, 2006. "Multiple utilities and weakness of will: A kantian perspective," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 64(1), pages 1-20.
    11. Paola Manzini & Marco Mariotti, 2004. "Rationalizing Boundedly Rational Choice," Microeconomics 0407005, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 21 Dec 2005.
    12. Schnellenbach, Jan & Schubert, Christian, 2015. "Behavioral political economy: A survey," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 395-417.
    13. Dominika Czyz & Karolina Safarzynska, 2023. "Catastrophic Damages and the Optimal Carbon Tax Under Loss Aversion," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 85(2), pages 303-340, June.
    14. Cruces, Guillermo & Perez-Truglia, Ricardo & Tetaz, Martin, 2013. "Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 100-112.
    15. Griffith, Rachel & O'Connell, Martin & Smith, Kate & Cherchye, Laurens & De Rock, Bram & Vermeulen, Frederic, 2017. "A new year, a new you? Heterogeneity and self-control in food purchases," CEPR Discussion Papers 12499, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Genakos, Christos & Roumanias, Costas & Valletti, Tommaso, 2023. "Is having an expert “friend” enough? An analysis of consumer switching behavior in mobile telephony," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 359-372.
    17. Dorian Jullien, 2018. "Under Risk, Over Time, Regarding Other People: Language and Rationality within Three Dimensions," Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, in: Including a Symposium on Latin American Monetary Thought: Two Centuries in Search of Originality, volume 36, pages 119-155, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    18. Antoni Bosch-Domènech & Joaquim Silvestre, 2017. "The role of frames, numbers and risk in the frequency of cooperation," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 64(3), pages 245-267, September.
    19. Ross A. Tippit, 2014. "Modeling exogenous moral norms," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 8(1), November.
    20. Jacobs Martin, 2016. "Accounting for Changing Tastes: Approaches to Explaining Unstable Individual Preferences," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 67(2), pages 121-183, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    duties; decision theory; rationality; maximisation; optimisation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B49 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Other
    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2021-02. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Alexander Mihailov (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/derdguk.html .

    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.