The Economic Approach to Human Behavior

A collection of essays analyzing the economic factors underlying human decision-making from the Nobel Prize–winning American economist.

Since his pioneering application of economic analysis to racial discrimination, Gary S. Becker has shown that an economic approach can provide a unified framework for understanding all human behavior. In a highly readable selection of essays Becker applies this approach to various aspects of human activity, including social interactions; crime and punishment; marriage, fertility, and the family; and “irrational” behavior.

Becker’s key concepts in the economic approach are market equilibrium, stable preferences, and maximizing behavior. These concepts can predict responses to market prices or to “shadow” prices—imputed values of goods and services, such as ideas or time, that are not sold in any market. Each chapter of the book considers a different aspect of human behavior, showing that the method is broad enough to explain decisions as mundane as buying a loaf of bread or as monumental as choosing a spouse.

“Becker’s highly regarded work in economics is most notable in the imaginative application of ‘the economic approach’ to a surprising breadth of human activity. Becker’s essays over the years have inevitably inspired a surge of research activity in testimony to the richness of his insights into human activities lying ‘outside’ the traditionally conceived economic markets. Perhaps no economist in our time has contributed more to expanding the area of interest to economists than Becker, and a number of these thought-provoking essays are collected in this book.” —Choice