What is the value of self-interest?
Abstract
The article critically reviews past and current justifications for the theoretical use of the behavioral assumption of self-interest, explanatory, normative, representational and critical, focusing on the critical function. This latter emerges from an incursion into the modern history of ideas and may be shown still to fertilize a number of contemporary economic approaches.
JEL Classification: B12; B21; B41; B52.
Keywords: Self-Interest Adam Smith Friedrich Hayek Rational Choice Institutions