The Economics of Everyday Life

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"... the economic approach is a comprehensive one that is applicable to all human behavior ..." - Gary Becker

Gary Becker attempted to extend micro-economic theory to a great many areas of human behaviour that, prior to his work, were taken to lie outside of its scope.

He applied the theory of 'utility maximization' to areas such as crime and punishment, discrimination, mating and the family, and the use of time.

At its root, this approach assumes persons to be rational in so far as they show stable preferences over time.

Notably, Becker analyses social interactions as, effectively, taking place in a 'market' and thus understands social processes as market processes.

He is also renowned for the development of the theory of 'human capital', especially as related to education.




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