Group Behaviour and Development

Bibliographic Data

ID23136553
AuthorsJudith Heyer (0009-0008-1790-1223), J Mohan Rao (0000-0002-9143-9638), Jyoti Rao (0000-0002-7715-1291), F Stewart (0000-0003-2560-3126), Rosemary Thorp
Year2002
Pages1-22
Publication date2002-09-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueGroup behaviour and development (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University PressOxford (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/oso/9780199256914.003.0001
OpenAlexW1596940197
ISBN9780199256914
LanguageEN
Citations received6

Most economic decisions are taken by people acting within, and very often on behalf of, groups. As consumers, individuals are members of families; as producers, they operate within firms. Moreover, there are a variety of less formal groups, such as neighbourhood or community associations and networks of producers, which play an important role in influencing behaviour and outcomes. Yet much of economics puts individuals at the centre of analysis. In the basic neoclassical framework individual consumers are assumed to maximize their own utility, while firms—which are treated as cohesive units, that is, as quasi-individuals—are assumed to maximize profits. Interaction between the two is deemed to underlie resource allocation, and, in certain rather restrictive conditions, result in a welfare optimum. Even governments are mostly treated as if each were an individual with unitary objectives. Important departures from the utilitarian approach led by Sen, arguing that development consists of the expansion of capabilities or freedoms, continue to take an individualistic stance—the objective in question being expansion ofindividual capabilities or freedoms (Sen 1999).

Business · Economics · Individualism · Market economy · Microeconomics · Neighbourhood (mathematics) · Political science · Public economics · Unitary state · Variety (cybernetics) · Welfare · Economic Theory and Institutions · Law · Political Economy and Marxism