Abstract

The market in terms of the interplay between utility-maximizing consumers and profit-maximizing producers plays a central role in modern economics. Since the time of Adam Smith economists have been concerned with the development of the internal logic of their models of markets, sometimes with the consequence that too little attention has been paid to the broader, sometimes implicit, social context in which market transactions take place. For an enlightened understanding of economic theory, it is, however, essential to keep in mind that economists do not always find it necessary to present a full account of human motivation in the analysis of each and every piece of analysis. The article will discuss the often implicit behavioural assumptions and the value judgments more explicitly.