the.com/rational choice
the theory that you're a tiny calculator with feelings, and the feelings are rounding errors.
means a model of behavior assuming people weigh costs and benefits and pick whatever maximizes their own payoff.
from formalized by economists like gary becker in the mid-20th century, who applied it far beyond markets to crime, marriage, and addiction, treating every decision as an optimization problem.
applied to crimebecker modeled criminals as cost-benefit calculators, not monsters
assumes stable preferencesyou're the same optimizer sober or starving
broken by kahnemannobel-winning research showed humans aren't that consistent
still runs economiescentral banks and markets still lean on it daily
for instance
gary becker crime model — 1968 paper treating criminals as rational cost-benefit actors
prisoner's dilemma — game theory staple showing rational choices can wreck both players
expected utility theory — von neumann and morgenstern's 1944 formal backbone of the model