Tastes, castes, and culture: The influence of society on preferences

No 26, ECON - Working Papers from Department of Economics - University of Zurich

Abstract: Economists have traditionally treated preferences as exogenously given. Preferences are assumed to be influenced by neither beliefs nor the constraints people face. As a consequence, changes in behaviour are explained exclusively in terms of changes in the set of feasible alternatives. Here we argue that the opposition to explaining behavioural changes in terms of preference changes is illfounded, that the psychological properties of preferences render them susceptible to direct social influences, and that the impact of “society” on preferences is likely to have important economic and social consequences.

Keywords: Endogenous preferences; culture; caste; frames; anchors; elicitation devices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 A13 D01 K0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-08
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (84)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Tastes, Castes, and Culture: The Influence of Society on Preferences (2011)
Working Paper: Tastes, castes, and culture: the influence of society on preferences (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zur:econwp:026

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