Tastes, Castes, and Culture: The Influence of Society on Preferences

Ernst Fehr and Karla Hoff

No 5919, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Economists have traditionally treated preferences as exogenously given. Preferences are assumed to be influenced by neither beliefs nor the constraints people face. As a consequence, changes in behaviour are explained exclusively in terms of changes in the set of feasible alternatives. Here we argue that the opposition to explaining behavioural changes in terms of preference changes is ill-founded, that the psychological properties of preferences render them susceptible to direct social influences, and that the impact of "society" on preferences is likely to have important economic and social consequences.

Keywords: endogenous preferences; culture; caste; frames; anchors; elicitation devices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 A13 D01 K0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2011-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-hpe, nep-mic, nep-neu and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (84)

Published - published in: Economic Journal, 2011, 121 (556), 396-412

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Related works:
Working Paper: Tastes, castes, and culture: the influence of society on preferences (2011)
Working Paper: Tastes, castes, and culture: The influence of society on preferences (2011)
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