Selfishness, selflessness and “selfies”

By Rosemarie Emanuele. Economists who use math to model the economy often make assumptions about the motivations of the players in the economy. One of the primary assumptions they often make is the assumption that people function in the economy out of self-interest. When Adam Smith first proposed his idea of the existence of an “invisible hand” that guides people to make decisions to bring about the best outcome for the welfare of everyone in the economy, he noted that altruism was not necessary to reach such an outcome. Read more...