On Lemmings and Other Acquisitive Animals: Propositions on Consumption
Author(s)
Hunt, E. K.; D’Arge, Ralph C.
Abstract
Orthodox neoclassical economics rests on a mechanistic worldview and assumes that atomistic individual behavior is governed by immutable laws of motion. Many alternative approaches to economics are based on a different, contextual worldview and assume that human behavior consists of complex processes and events, connected to other people and things by intricate systems of relationships. This article argues that the difference between the two perspectives is particularly important for understanding the effects of externalities and that only the alternative, contextual perspective can make sense of a world in which externalities are ubiquitous.
