Habit Concepts in Economic Theory and their Algorithmization Suitability

V. Istratov
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V. Istratov: Central Economics and Mathematics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Journal of the New Economic Association, 2019, vol. 41, issue 1, 34-66

Abstract: Despite the huge and obvious role of habits in human life, the topic remains little cultivated by economists. On the one hand, the development of economic theoretical approaches is slow; on the other hand, borrowings from related sciences are insignificant. We provide an overview of the current state of economic research on the topic of human habits. This scientific area remains fragmented and underdeveloped; habits are being mentioned in a big number of works, including the classical ones, but mainly in passing. The habits exposed in publications often happen to be too specific and in too many cases the research does not go beyond stating the existence of a habit itself and the nature of its influence on the other elements of the environment or theory. Therefor we propose a classification of economic concepts of habit, we trace the interpretation ambiguity of this notion, and we discuss the issue of formalizing and algorithmizing the habit concepts. The analysis pays special attention to the degree of investigation of the life cycle of habit: how it is formed, lasts and dies.

Keywords: habit; behavior; decision; social habit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B40 C60 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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