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Is Homo Economicus An Ideal to be Pursued? Using US and Japan Survey Data*
Author(s) -
Yamane Shoko,
Yoneda Hiroyasu,
Tsutsui Yoshiro
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
asian economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.345
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1467-8381
pISSN - 1351-3958
DOI - 10.1111/asej.12222
Subject(s) - homo economicus , selfishness , happiness , economics , ideal (ethics) , microeconomics , ideal type , trait , rationality , neoclassical economics , positive economics , classical economics , welfare economics , sociology , social psychology , psychology , philosophy , social science , epistemology , computer science , programming language
This study investigated how the various characteristics of Homo economicus (intellectual ability, self‐control, selfishness, fairness and pursuit of monetary gain) correlate with individual performance. We adopted income and happiness as measures of individual performance. Using large‐scale survey data from Japan and the USA, we found that: (i) generally, Homo economicus is an ideal person from the perspective of economic success; (ii) Homo economicus has many traits that make her/him unhappy; (iii) intellectual ability is a strong trait of Homo economicus for both economic success and happiness; and (iv) the results for Japan and the USA are quite similar.