What Is an Economic Man?

The economic man assumes that the person's thinking and behavior are rational in purpose, and the only economic benefit that he tries to obtain is the maximization of material compensation. ^[1]

Commonly used as a basic assumption in economics and some psychological analysis. The "economic man" in Western classical economics assumes that people have complete rationality and can make choices that maximize their own interests. 1978 Nobel Laureate in Economics

The concept of the economic man comes from a passage in Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations": The food and beverages needed every day are not the favor of butchers, brewers and bakers, but for their self-interest. Instead of saying something that evokes their altruism, say something that evokes their self-interest, not saying what they need, but saying it is good for them.

With complete pursuit

Any assumptions about people are limited

The essence of "economic man's hypothesis" is to abstract "people", which refers to the abstraction of microscopic human characteristics for the needs of economic analysis, interpretation, and derivation, and analyzes its decisions and behaviors based on this abstraction. Abstraction can avoid falling into the endless debate about "human nature" itself, so as to discuss related economic topics more effectively. This abstraction actually treats people not as "humans", but as a pure "economic animal". Such "animals" do not exist, so their limitations are unavoidable.

First of all, due to different economic research perspectives and research needs, the abstraction of people also differs. Economists' different views on human nature also affect their assumptions about people. For example, the "social person" model is another hypothesis applied in economics. It was proposed by old institutionalist economists and it was intended to replace the "economic man" model. Its basic content is: as a social existence, in addition to material economic benefits, man also pursues the needs of security, self-esteem, emotions, social status, etc .; the choice made by a person must be based on his personal social experience On the basis of continuous learning processes and the interactions between individuals who form part of their daily lives, so a person s behavior is directly dependent on the life in which he lives

There are three main points in the study of economic man in Capital Theory: First, economic man, not a general type of human behavior, is a special type of commodity society, that is, "the essence of man is not an abstract inherent in a single person. In its reality, Sexually, it is the sum of all social relations. " ^[3]

Second, due to the special historical nature of capitalist production, the capitalist acts as an "active economic man" and the hired workers act as a "passive economic man."

Third, the behavioral equation of the capitalist economic person is "maximizing surplus value." That is: "There is a tendency for capital to reduce it to necessary labor when it is used directly, and to use the various social productivity of labor to continuously reduce the labor necessary to produce products, so it is necessary to save as much as possible the direct use of live labor. Similarly, there is a tendency to use this labor which has been reduced to the necessary level under the most economical conditions, that is, to reduce the value of the constant capital used to its lowest possible extent. If it is said that the value of a commodity is determined by the necessary labor time included in the commodity, not by the labor time generally contained in the commodity, then it is the capital that realizes this decision, and at the same time, it continuously reduces the socially necessary labor time required to produce the commodity . In this way, the price of the commodity is reduced to its minimum, because every part of the labor required to produce the commodity is reduced to its minimum. " ^[4]

Therefore, the "political implication" in political economics can only be explored with production as a general rule, which can be achieved through the "criticism" of production itself (that is, by negating development). In practical terms, its meaning can only be limited to "the movement of social processes", that is, the struggle for production, the economy, the politics, and the class struggle. ^[5]