Introducing Procedural Utility: Not Only What, but Also How Matters

Bruno Frey, Matthias Benz and Alois Stutzer

Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), 2004, vol. 160, issue 3, 377-401

Abstract: People not only care about outcomes; they also value the procedures that lead to the outcomes. Procedural utility is an important source of human well-being. This paper aims at introducing the concept of procedural utility into economics, and argues that it should be incorporated more widely into economic theory and empirical research. Three building blocks of a concept of procedural utility are outlined, and it is suggested how procedural utility can be fruitfully integrated. Evidence from a broad range of social sciences is reviewed in order to show that procedural utility is a relevant concept for economics.

JEL-codes: A00 A12 D60 D70 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (326)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/article/introducing ... 16280932456041960560 (text/html)
Fulltext access is included for subscribers to the printed version.

Related works:
Working Paper: Introducing Procedural Utility: Not only What, but also How Matters (2003)
Working Paper: Introducing Procedural Utility: Not only What, but also How Matters
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mhr:jinste:urn:sici:0932-4569(200409)160:3_377:ipunow_2.0.tx_2-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
Mohr Siebeck GmbH & Co. KG, P.O.Box 2040, 72010 Tübingen, Germany

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE) is currently edited by Gerd Mühlheußer and Bayer, Ralph-C

More articles in Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE) from Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Thomas Wolpert ().