IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/ijsepp/v38y2011i3p224-236.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Human needs and utility maximization

Author

Listed:
  • Katherine B. Freeman

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide alternatives to the economic man image of human behavior and incorporate these alternative images which are based on motivational needs into utility analysis. Design/methodology/approach - Empirically derived psychological variables define the individual's personality type in terms of an altruistic or non‐altruistic orientation. These variables are incorporated into the individual's utility function, and an analysis is made of utility maximization based on human needs. Findings - Behavioral and motivational characteristics of individuals are relatively constant and are a function of the underlying personality traits of the individuals. Empirical support is offered for these characteristics, they are incorporated into the individual's utility function, and an analysis if performed on the interactions between individuals. Originality/value - This paper not only goes beyond the economic man image of human behavior to analyze altruistic and selfish behavior but also analyzes the utility functions of both potential donors and recipients.

Suggested Citation

  • Katherine B. Freeman, 2011. "Human needs and utility maximization," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 38(3), pages 224-236, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijsepp:v:38:y:2011:i:3:p:224-236
    DOI: 10.1108/03068291111105174
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/03068291111105174/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/03068291111105174/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/03068291111105174?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daly, George & Giertz, Fred J, 1972. "Welfare Economics and Welfare Reform," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 131-138, March.
    2. Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis, 2000. "Walrasian Economics in Retrospect," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(4), pages 1411-1439.
    3. Binmore, Ken, 2005. "Natural Justice," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195178111.
    4. Hochman, Harold M & Rodgers, James D, 1969. "Pareto Optimal Redistribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(4), pages 542-557, Part I Se.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Antonios Avgeris & Achilleas Kontogeorgos & Panagiota Sergaki, 2018. "The 'Reciprocity' Game: A theoretical basis for measuring reciprocity in human socio-economic interactions," International Journal of Social Sciences, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, vol. 7(1), pages 13-33, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John Blair & Walter Chatfield, 1974. "Pareto optimal growth," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 93-97, March.
    2. J. Giertz, 1982. "A limited defense of Pareto optimal redistribution," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 277-282, January.
    3. Jesurun-Clements, Nancy, 1992. "Paternalism and the alleviation of poverty," Policy Research Working Paper Series 822, The World Bank.
    4. Rosenzweig, Mark R. & Wolpin, Kenneth I., 1984. "Externalities, Heterogeneity and the Optimal Distribution of Public Programs: Child Health and Family Planning Interventions," Bulletins 8435, University of Minnesota, Economic Development Center.
    5. Engelbert Stockhammer & Paul Ramskogler, 2009. "Post-Keynesian economics How to move forward," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 6(2), pages 227-246.
    6. Lombardi, Michele & Yoshihara, Naoki, 2013. "Natural implementation with partially honest agents in economic environments," MPRA Paper 48294, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Drakopoulos, Stavros A., 2008. "The Concept Of Comparison Income: An Historical Perspective," MPRA Paper 8713, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Cebula, Richard, 1973. "Interstate Migration and the Tiebout Hypothesis: An Analysis According to Race, Sex, and Age," MPRA Paper 49827, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Feb 1974.
    9. Cubitt, Robin P. & Drouvelis, Michalis & Gächter, Simon & Kabalin, Ruslan, 2011. "Moral judgments in social dilemmas: How bad is free riding?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 253-264.
    10. Glazer, Amihai & Konrad, Kai A., 1993. "Ameliorating congestion by income redistribution," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 579-584, November.
    11. Masahiko Aoki, 2013. "Institutions as cognitive media between strategic interactions and individual beliefs," Chapters, in: Comparative Institutional Analysis, chapter 17, pages 298-312, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Dennis Mueller, 1998. "Constitutional Constraints on Governments in a Global Economy," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 171-186, September.
    13. Birdsall, Nancy & James, Estelle, 1992. "Health, government, and the poor : the case for the private sector," Policy Research Working Paper Series 938, The World Bank.
    14. Simon G�chter & Ernst Fehr, "undated". "Fairness in the Labour Market � A Survey of Experimental Results," IEW - Working Papers 114, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    15. Stephen Drinkwater & Colin Jennings, 2007. "Who are the expressive voters?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 179-189, July.
    16. Berthold, Norbert & Neumann, Michael, 2006. "Europas Sozialstaaten im Schatten der Globalisierung," Discussion Paper Series 88, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Chair of Economic Order and Social Policy.
    17. Bigoni, Maria & Camera, Gabriele & Casari, Marco, 2020. "Money is more than memory," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 99-115.
    18. Arthur J. Robson & Balázs Szentes, 2014. "A Biological Theory of Social Discounting," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(11), pages 3481-3497, November.
    19. Terry A. Taylor & Wenqiang Xiao, 2014. "Subsidizing the Distribution Channel: Donor Funding to Improve the Availability of Malaria Drugs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(10), pages 2461-2477, October.
    20. Louis Kaplow, 2000. "A Framework for Assessing Estate and Gift Taxation," NBER Working Papers 7775, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:ijsepp:v:38:y:2011:i:3:p:224-236. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.