Preferences, Choice, Goal Attainment, Satisfaction:That’s Life?

Rowena Pecchenino

Economics Department Working Paper Series from Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth

Abstract: We make choices to achieve an objective. The objective is defined by an individual’s preferences. Subject to constraints, the objective is approached or achieved. Is this a good characterization of life? To answer this question we weaken one of the most basic assumptions of economics: individuals know their preferences. Instead we assume that an individual’s preferences are shaped and reshaped by his environment, experiences, expectations, and by exogenous events. In this model of individual self-discovery, preferences emerge, evolve, and change. These redefinitions change the future course of the individual’s life and reinterpret his past. They characterize a life lived.

Keywords: Identity; Preferences; Choice; Life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D03 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 17 pages
Date: 2010
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-cbe, nep-dcm, nep-hap, nep-hpe and nep-upt
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Journal Article: Preferences, choice, goal attainment, satisfaction: That's life? (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:may:mayecw:n205-10.pdf

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