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Spring 2003

ISSN 0890-913X

Volume 18, Number 2

Categories: Spring 2003 | Economic Analysis

Virtue or Vice? Pedagogical History of the Self-Interest Hypothesis

Gary Quinlivan, Saint Vicent College

John Naugle, Saint Vicent College

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VirtueorVice?APedagogicalHistoryoftheSelf-InterestHypothesisGaryQuinlivanJohnNaugleSaintVincentCollegeItisnotfromthebenevolenceofthebutcher,thebrewer,orthebaker,thatweexpectourdinner,butfromregardtotheirowninterests.Weaddressourselves,nottotheirhumanitybuttotheirself-love,andnevertalkofourownnecessitiesbutoftheiradvantages.(Smith,Wealth27)Theself-interesthypothesis,articulatedbyAdamSmithintheWealthofNations,eitherexplicitlyorimplicitly,hasbeenakeypostulateunderlyingtheparadigmofbothclassicalandneoclassicaleconomicmodels.Butthereseemstobesomedispute,asrevealedinprinciplesofeconomicstextbooks,astowhattheself-interesthypothesisactuallymeansCarepersonalethicsandmoralspartoftheequationor,ratherasconveyedbySamuelson=sbestsellingprincipleseditions(1948tothepresent),doesthehypothesisimplythatweareselfish,materialself-drivenindividuals,unconcernedwithhowouractionsimpactothers?Somerecentprinciplestextsandresearchinthefieldofexperimentaleconomicsleaninthedirectionofamorevalue-ladenhypothesis.Forexample,EkelundandTollison(10)delineatethepremiseofArationalself-interest,@whereHomoeconomicusmakesdecisionsutilizingacost-benefitanalysisthatisconditionedbynormativeconstraints(e.g.,Apersonaltastes,values,andsocialphilosophy@).FehrandSchmidt(1)notonlysupportthisfinding,butreturnthehypothesistoitsnormativeroots:AInrecentyearsexperimentaleconomistshavegatheredoverwhelmingevidencethatsystematicallyrefutestheself-interesthypothesis[asdefinedinPaulSamuelson=sprinciplestext]andsuggeststhatmanypeoplearestronglymotivatedbyconcernsforfairnessandreciprocity.@

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Metadata [hide]

Title	Virtue or Vice? Pedagogical History of the Self-Interest Hypothesis
Authors/Creators:	Gary Quinlivan, Saint Vicent College John Naugle, Saint Vicent College
Year:	2003
Volume:	18
Number:	2
Pages:	22 - 34
Publisher:	The Association of Private Enterprise Education
ISSN:	0890-913X
Document Type:	Articles
Keywords:	Classical economics, Ethics, Rationality, Self interest, Pedagogy, Competition, Value systems, Liberalism, Capitalism

Citation:
Quinlivan, Gary; Naugle, John / 2003. "Virtue or Vice? Pedagogical History of the Self-Interest Hypothesis." The Journal of Private Enterprise, 18(2): 22-34.