Unpreferred Preferences: Unavoidable or a Failure of the Market?

David George ()
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David George: Economics Department, LaSalle University

Eastern Economic Journal, 2001, vol. 27, issue 4, 463-479

Abstract: Previous articles have sought to demonstrate that markets fail in the shaping of preferences. With no recognized property rights in an agent’s preferences, they are too seldom changed for the better (as judged by the agent) and too often changed for the worse. This paper addresses the question of whether this market shortcoming has been worsening as markets have gained in influence. Two historical trends -- the reliance on market performance as the main criterion of success and the replacement of production for self with production for markets -- are studied in the context of demonstrating that the problem of unpreferred preferences has been growing.

Keywords: Preference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
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