Altruism, Rationality and Morality

M. Teresa Lunati
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M. Teresa Lunati: Bolton Institute

Chapter 1 in Ethical Issues in Economics, 1997, pp 9-19 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract When looking at the growing interest amongst economists in altruism and its economic implications, one question may quite naturally be raised. Why is so much of economic literature, in more recent years at least, on the one hand, increasingly incorporating altruism into formal analysis and models, while seemingly trying, on the other hand, to ‘discredit’ altruism? This is typically done by, for example, showing that altruism can result in inefficient resource allocations and inefficient outcomes — as in the ‘Samaritan’s dilemma’ context, with the possible (or likely) exploitation of, or ‘free-riding’ on, the altruism of others by selfish individuals; and/or by modelling altruism in a ‘non-altruistic’ manner.1

Keywords: Utility Maximization; Moral Behaviour; Individual Freedom; Neoclassical Economist; Rational Morality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-37358-7_2

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230373587_2

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