American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
"We Thinking" and Its Consequences
American Economic Review
(pp. 415–19)
Abstract
Increasingly, economists are drawing on concepts from outside economics—such as "norms," "esteem," and "identity"—to model agents' social natures. A key reason for studying such social motivation is to shed light on the conditions that facilitate—or deter—collective action. It has been widely observed, for instance, that groups are more able to engage in collective action when they have a common, group identity. This paper gives one explanation for such a link. The paper develops a new concept, "we thinking"; and it also provides a deeper understanding of the concepts of norms, identity, and esteem.Citation
Akerlof, Robert. 2016. ""We Thinking" and Its Consequences." American Economic Review 106 (5): 415–19. DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20161040Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D11 Consumer Economics: Theory
- D71 Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification