The making of behavioral development economics

Allison Davis Demeritt and Karla Hoff

No 8317, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: A core insight from early behavioral economics is that much of human judgment and behavior is influenced by"fast thinking"that is intuitive, associative, and automatic; very little human thinking resembles the rational thinking that characterizes homo economicus. What is less well-recognized is that innate reliance on cognitive shortcuts means that cultural mental models --categories, concepts, social identities, narratives, and worldviews -- profoundly influence judgment and behavior. Individuals have a cultural"toolkit"or"repertoire"of mental models that they use to perceive and interpret a situation and construct a response. Many researchers have connected cultural mental models to economic development, yet they rarely identify their research findings as"behavioral"economics. This research constitutes a second strand of behavioral economics that illuminates the tight interlinkages between preferences, culture, and institutions and points to new policy opportunities. It brings the discipline almost full circle back to 18th and 19th century perspectives. This essay cautions against strong reductionism in which sociological influences on decision making are squeezed into a rational actor model.

Keywords: Social Development&Poverty; Economics and Gender; Gender and Economic Policy; Gender and Poverty; Gender and Economics; Technology Industry; Technology Innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-01-24
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/708521516820237922/pdf/WPS8317.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:wbk:wbrwps:8317

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().