The evolution of scientific thought in the field of human economic choice research: behavioral factors from homo economicus to an economy with a human face

Abstract

The article considers a change in the scientific thought in the field of studying the economic choice of an individual from Adam Smith to Richard Thaler. For a detailed study of factors influencing the economic choice of a person, special scientific literature was analyzed. Since the 17th century, the economic man model has been very rational. In the 19th century, they began to pay attention to the desires of a single individual. In the 20th century, attention was paid to biological and social factors influencing the economic choice (patterns): the Veblen effect, the snob effect, the effect of joining the majority. Further, feelings and thoughts acquired great importance, the concept of "bounded rationality" was introduced. In the 21st century, the existence of such factors influencing the choice as a sense of justice, trust, money illusion, choice factors, affects, systematic errors in thinking that affect the choice are described: cognitive distortions, decision anomalies behavioral heuristics of representativeness, accessibility, and anchoring. All found factors influence the economic choice, which can be used to develop a new model of the economic human.