Subjective preferences and alternative costs

The present paper is an exploration of the economics of subjectivism and opportunity or alternative costs. Most contemporary economists pay lip service to these concepts, but when push comes to shove, all too often they jettison them. We shall illustrate this lapse from basic economics with a challe...

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Autores principales:	William Barnett II, Walter E. Block
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	DE EN FR
Publicado:	Editura ASE Bucuresti 2013
Materias:	Indifference Opportunity costs Economics as a science HB71-74
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/6da2e9e954814ea6bdbb7938f71f2f41
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:6da2e9e954814ea6bdbb7938f71f2f41
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:6da2e9e954814ea6bdbb7938f71f2f412021-12-02T05:49:56ZSubjective preferences and alternative costs1843-22981844-8208https://doaj.org/article/6da2e9e954814ea6bdbb7938f71f2f412013-05-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.jpe.ro/poze/articole/91.pdfhttps://doaj.org/toc/1843-2298https://doaj.org/toc/1844-8208The present paper is an exploration of the economics of subjectivism and opportunity or alternative costs. Most contemporary economists pay lip service to these concepts, but when push comes to shove, all too often they jettison them. We shall illustrate this lapse from basic economics with a challenge that has been perplexing several modern economists: why do people always walk on staircases, but only sometimes on escalators. Landsburg (2002) misunderstood the reason people only sometimes walk on escalators, whereas they always walk on stairs. Garrison (2009) tackled the same problem, with somewhat different results. Both of them, however, are guilty of a failure to use what is perhaps the most fundamental concept in the economist’s toolkit – opportunity cost, known to an immense number of non-economists by the aphorism ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch.’ This oversight resulted in his (their) failure to explain why people only sometimes walk on escalators, in contradistinction to the fact that they always walk on staircases. William Barnett IIWalter E. BlockEditura ASE BucurestiarticleIndifferenceOpportunity costsEconomics as a scienceHB71-74DEENFRJournal of Philosophical Economics, Vol VI, Iss 2 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	DE EN FR
topic	Indifference Opportunity costs Economics as a science HB71-74
spellingShingle	Indifference Opportunity costs Economics as a science HB71-74 William Barnett II Walter E. Block Subjective preferences and alternative costs
description	The present paper is an exploration of the economics of subjectivism and opportunity or alternative costs. Most contemporary economists pay lip service to these concepts, but when push comes to shove, all too often they jettison them. We shall illustrate this lapse from basic economics with a challenge that has been perplexing several modern economists: why do people always walk on staircases, but only sometimes on escalators. Landsburg (2002) misunderstood the reason people only sometimes walk on escalators, whereas they always walk on stairs. Garrison (2009) tackled the same problem, with somewhat different results. Both of them, however, are guilty of a failure to use what is perhaps the most fundamental concept in the economist’s toolkit – opportunity cost, known to an immense number of non-economists by the aphorism ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch.’ This oversight resulted in his (their) failure to explain why people only sometimes walk on escalators, in contradistinction to the fact that they always walk on staircases.
format	article
author	William Barnett II Walter E. Block
author_facet	William Barnett II Walter E. Block
author_sort	William Barnett II
title	Subjective preferences and alternative costs
title_short	Subjective preferences and alternative costs
title_full	Subjective preferences and alternative costs
title_fullStr	Subjective preferences and alternative costs
title_full_unstemmed	Subjective preferences and alternative costs
title_sort	subjective preferences and alternative costs
publisher	Editura ASE Bucuresti
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/6da2e9e954814ea6bdbb7938f71f2f41
work_keys_str_mv	AT williambarnettii subjectivepreferencesandalternativecosts AT waltereblock subjectivepreferencesandalternativecosts
_version_	1718400234889936896

Subjective preferences and alternative costs

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