Economics and duty-motivated choices

We study the relationship between economics and duties, the latter considered as deep, intrinsic moral obligations that motivate individuals. We first define duty in a way that could be amenable to work within the tools of decision theory, distinguishing between perfect and imperfect duty-motivated choices. Finally, we apply standard decision theory to assess how duties relate to economics, particularly to rationality. Three main findings emerge. One, perfect duty-motivated choice is rational. Two, when imperfect duty is at play, rationality conditions can be violated. Third, by making use of the difference between two representations of the maximisation problem - the relational and the real valued utility function - we show that individuals motivated by duty can choose a maximal while optimising their preference rankings; instead, maximisation of utility may not be possible under duty-motivated choices that supervene the local non satiation assumption.