Experiments, ethnography, and introspection provide evidence economic agents do not act
to maximize their narrowly defined self interest. Expanding the domain of preferences to …

This paper surveys recent work on the evolutionary origins of preferences. We are especially
interested in the circumstances under which evolution would push preferences away from …

This paper investigates whether individuals feel worse off when others around them earn
more. In other words, do people care about relative position, and does “lagging behind the …

Vatn has prepared a vast feast for his readers. Hopefully, this book will become one of the
core textbooks both in institutional economics and in resource economics. As a political …

This paper describes a range of methods which have been proposed to study interactions in
economic and social contexts. By interactions, we refer to interdependences between …

We study the impact of status and social recognition on worker performance in a field
experiment. In collaboration with an international non-governmental organization, we hired …

If individuals care about their status, defined as their rank in the distribution of consumption
of one “positional” good, then the consumer's problem is strategic as her utility depends on …

It is surely appropriate that the John R. Commons lecture would someday be given on the
subject of Institutions. Anyone who goes back to read The Legal Foundations of Capital ism …

This book is the first of its kind to provide a comprehensive overview of the burgeoning field
of happiness and economics. The essays collected in this book provide an authoritative and …

This paper first considers the implications of biological evolution for economic preferences. It
analyzes why utility functions evolved, considers evidence that utility is both hedonic and …