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Rational Self Interest
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2024
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One of the problems with economic theory in general is assuming rational actors.
I was told by my first economics professor that if I could solve that problem, and eliminate the assumption of rationality, I'd be the richest man on earth over night.
It's a problem, they know it's a problem, they just don't have a better answer.
You can't even assume everyone can agree on the same definition of rational. If a business owner is a sadist they might value treating their employees like dirt more than the money they'd make if the business ran more efficiently. For a dickhead, rational self interest could mean forgoing profit to cause misery.
Rational in the economics sense just means that people do things for a reason. We're not acting randomly, we believe that when we put money towards a thing that we are receiving something of value for it.
Any more specific than that and we're not talking about rationality in the economics sense any more. Rationality does not mean correct. Just with cause.
This sounds like the metric for hiring middle-management if anything.
It would certainly help explain middle management's obsession with return-to-office policies in the face of all the evidence that WFH increases productivity.