Informal Institutions and the "Weaknesses" of Human Behavior

Arbeitspapier

Political reforms can be understood as the reconfiguration of formal institutions. The rational choice of formal institutions is the core topic of the New Institutional Economics research program. While bounded rationality is a core assumption of the New Institutional Economics and the reason for suboptimal behavior there, additional reference is made to the individual aspiration to intrapersonal consistency and interpersonal conformity here. These sources of a systematic deviation from the standard model of the homo oeconomicus result in systematic weaknesses of perception and deviations of behavior. This contribution connects shared mental models as informal institutions in the sense of North with well-established social psychological approaches and thereby leads to an integrative reflection of the insights in a stringent model framework.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Diskussionspapier ; No. 34

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty: General ; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification ; Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines ; Current Heterodox Approaches: Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary
• Subject: Institutioneller Wandel ; Reform ; Soziale Norm ; Beschränkte Rationalität ; Public Choice ; Theorie

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Thomas, Tobias ; Göbel, Markus
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Helmut-Schmidt-Universität - Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg, Fächergruppe Volkswirtschaftslehre
• (where): Hamburg
• (when): 2005

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/23621
• URN: urn:nbn:de:gbv:705-opus-16645
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET