La evolución del Homo economicus: problemas del marco de decisión racional en Economía

• Autor: Maletta, Héctor
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2010
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Repositorio: PUCP-Institucional
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.pucp.edu.pe:20.500.14657/117557
• Enlace del recurso: http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/economia/article/view/580/567; https://doi.org/10.18800/economia.201001.001
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Economía; Racionalidad Económica; Homo Economicus; Utilidad; Economía Neoclásica; Economía Evolucionaria; Economía Conductual; Economía Experimental; Economía Institucional; https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#5.02.01

Since its beginnings, and more clearly since the mid 1800, Economics has been resting on the assumption that economic agents make rational decisions, maximizing their utility or well-being according to their own preferences and interests. The economic order resulting from that plurality of rational decisions is regarded as an efficient and Pareto-optimum one. Several authors have questioned the validity of those assumptions, and this has entailed a gradual transformation of the assumptions. This paper discusses the problems faced by the idea of a fully rational Homo economicus, the adjustments and defensive measures adopted by various tendencies within Economics to overcome those problems and counter various related theoretical and methodological criticisms. The paper also discusses more recent conceptions of economic reality that are at variance with the traditional view, especially those linked to behavioural, institutional and evolutionary Economics.