Evolving Preferences and Welfare Economics: The Perspective of Constitutional Political Economy

2014 ◽  
Vol 234 (2-3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktor J. Vanberg
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Welfare Economics ◽  
Constitutional Political Economy ◽  
Constitutional Economics ◽  
Individual Preferences ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Mind

SummaryThe theoretical consistency and practical applicability of traditional welfare economics has long been subject to controversy. More recently the challenge has been added from evolutionary approaches that the individual preferences on which the welfare calculus is based are themselves subject to change. The purpose of the present paper is twofold. It takes, firstly, a closer look at the discussion on the need and feasibility of an evolutionary welfare economics that accommodates evolving preferences. The particular focus is on proposals advanced by three authors, Carl Christian von Weizsäcker, Ulrich Witt and Robert Sugden. And it seeks, secondly, to show that the paradigm of constitutional economics can deal with the evolving-preferences-issue in a more coherent and consistent way than approaches that remain within the mind-frame of welfare economics.

Reconciling Normative and Behavioral Economics: An Application of the “Naturalistic Approach” to the Adaptation Problem

2014 ◽  
Vol 234 (2-3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Schubert ◽  
Martin Binder
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Welfare Economics ◽  
Preference Formation ◽  
Individual Preferences ◽  
Opportunity Sets ◽  
The Individual ◽  
High Level ◽  
Adaptive Preference ◽  
Vexing Problem

SummaryWhile standard economic theory takes individual preferences as stable and “given”, i.e., independent of situational context, real-world preferences tend to vary with changing opportunity sets. This is exemplified by Aesop’s fable of the fox and the sour grapes. This phenomenon of “adaptive preference formation” poses a vexing problem for normative economics: preferences which constitute the measuring rod for welfare are in turn shaped by the (economic) situation of the individual, leading to problems epitomized by Amartya Sen’s “hopeless beggar” dilemma: The beggar, enduring objectively miserable circumstances, nonetheless claims to have all his preferences satisfied, which would lead orthodox welfare economics to establish a high level of well-being. For those who find this counterintuitive, different solutions for the “adaptation problem” have been proposed in the literature, typically centering on highly demanding rationality and information requirements. We argue that, in order to cope with this and related problems of preference endogeneity, welfare economics rather needs to account for recent psychological insights into the mechanisms that drive preference formation and change. We then use these insights to suggest and apply a procedural criterion of autonomous preference formation.

Contractarian Perspectives in Law and Economics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Vanberg ◽  
Viktor Vanberg
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Law And Economics ◽  
Nobel Laureate ◽  
Constitutional Political Economy ◽  
Constitutional Economics ◽  
Classical Economics

This article sketches the distinct perspective that a contractarian approach can bring to law and economics. It focuses on a particularly important strand of the contractarian tradition: the constitutional political economy (CPE) research program (also known as constitutional economics), developed most fully in the work of Nobel laureate James Buchanan. Like law and economics, the CPE paradigm is primarily concerned with the comparative analysis of social, economic, and political institutions. But its foundational assumptions offer a distinct contrast to the mainstream neoclassical paradigm that has dominated law and economics as a field. The article first provides a brief overview of contractarian approaches. It then describes the central features of the CPE paradigm. It contrasts the foundations of the CPE approach with those of neo-classical economics; explores the implications of these differences for the research foci at the heart of these two traditions; and discusses how mainstream and constitutional economics approaches may be reconciled.

scholarly journals Market and state: the perspective of constitutional political economy

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
VIKTOR J. VANBERG
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Welfare Economics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Constitutional Political Economy ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Consumer Sovereignty ◽  
Voluntary Exchange ◽  
Economic Constitution ◽  
Rules Of The Game

The paper approaches the ‘market versus state’ issue from the perspective of constitutional political economy, a research program that has been advanced as a principal alternative to traditional welfare economics and its perspective on the relation between market and state. Constitutional political economy looks at market and state as different kinds of social arenas in which people may realize mutual gains from voluntary exchange and cooperation. The working properties of these arenas depend on their respective constitutions, i.e. the rules of the game that define the constraints under which individuals are allowed, in either arena, to pursue their interests. It is argued that ‘improving’ markets means to adopt and to maintain an economic constitution that enhances consumer sovereignty, and that ‘improvement’ in the political arena means to adopt and to maintain constitutional rules that enhance citizen sovereignty.

Constitutional Economics and the Law

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Voigt
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Rational Choice ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
The Self ◽  
Constitutional Political Economy ◽  
Constitutional Economics ◽  
Established Method ◽  
Self Interest

The economic analysis of constitutions, also known as ‘constitutional economics’ or ‘constitutional political economy’ is a young research program. Standard economics used to focus on the analysis of choices within rules, thus assuming rules to be exogenously given and fixed. Constitutional economics broadens this research program by analyzing the choice of rules, using the established method of economics, i.e. rational choice. This article discusses the two broad research avenues in constitutional economics: the normative branch, which is interested in legitimizing the state and its most basic rules by drawing solely on the self-interest of rational individuals; and the positive branch, which is interested in explaining, firstly, the (economic) effects of alternative constitutional rules and, secondly, the emergence and modification of constitutional rules.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MANIPULATIVE STRATEGIES IN THE ACTIVITIES OF NEWS AGENCIES

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-203
Author(s):  
Nodira Musayeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
General Information ◽  
The State ◽  
News Agencies ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Mind

It is no secret that one of the features of today's global infomakon is manipulative information, which carries a large part of the General information complex that negatively affects public consciousness, the unity of the individual, society and the state. The main feature of modern journalism is that it completely rejects open propaganda and uses hidden methods of influencing the mind. Many news agencies have moved from direct ideological pressure on the recipient to theuse of hidden mechanisms of thought formation.

scholarly journals The rule of rules

Public Choice ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Hamlin
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Political Order ◽  
Constitutional Political Economy ◽  
Rule Following ◽  
Rule Based

AbstractRules are central to the constitutional political economy (CPE) approach. On this approach, rules, of a variety of types and forms, are necessary for the emergence of a political and social order, so that all genuine political order is rule-based. The central role of rules within the CPE approach is examined starting from an explicit definitional discussion of the concept of a rule and including discussion of the nature of rule-following behavior, the supply of rules, and rule enforcement.

Are we Ready for a “Microbiome-Guided Behaviour” Approach?

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (04) ◽  
pp. 708-724
Author(s):  
ANDREA LAVAZZA ◽  
VITTORIO A. SIRONI
Keyword(s):  
Fecal Microbiota Transplantation ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Fecal Microbiota ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Brain Functioning ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Mind

Abstract:The microbiome is proving to be increasingly important for human brain functioning. A series of recent studies have shown that the microbiome influences the central nervous system in various ways, and consequently acts on the psychological well-being of the individual by mediating, among others, the reactions of stress and anxiety. From a specifically neuroethical point of view, according to some scholars, the particular composition of the microbiome—qua microbial community—can have consequences on the traditional idea of human individuality. Another neuroethical aspect concerns the reception of this new knowledge in relation to clinical applications. In fact, attention to the balance of the microbiome—which includes eating behavior, the use of psychobiotics and, in the treatment of certain diseases, the use of fecal microbiota transplantation—may be limited or even prevented by a biased negative attitude. This attitude derives from a prejudice related to everything that has to do with the organic processing of food and, in general, with the human stomach and intestine: the latter have traditionally been regarded as low, dirty, contaminated and opposed to what belongs to the mind and the brain. This biased attitude can lead one to fail to adequately consider the new anthropological conceptions related to the microbiome, resulting in a state of health, both physical and psychological, inferior to what one might have by paying the right attention to the knowledge available today. Shifting from the ubiquitous high-low metaphor (which is synonymous with superior-inferior) to an inside-outside metaphor can thus be a neuroethical strategy to achieve a new and unbiased reception of the discoveries related to the microbiome.

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