I Choose for Myself, Therefore I Am

Abstract

Behavioral economics and existentialism both present informative perspectives on human choice. We argue in this article that the dialogue between the two approaches can enrich the current debate about the normative implications of behavioral economics. While behavioral economics suggests that our capacity to choose is constrained by cognitive biases and environmental influences, existentialism emphasizes that we can (and should) treat ourselves as free and ‘becoming’ beings in spite of the many constraints we face. Acknowledging these two perspectives in the form of a theoretical synthesis—which we propose to call existentialist behavioral economics—provides us with reasons why we should protect our choices ‘as our own’ and how doing so may be more difficult than we anticipate. It also provides a framework to analyze the threat of identity-shaping social and technological developments, such as preference-altering nudges and artificially intelligent prediction algorithms.

The Contribution of Behavioural Insights to Political Economy

“…According to Sugden, human behaviour is inherently contextdependent; it involves taking on a purpose that is given by the context in which we find ourselves in. This context-dependence, Sugden argues, is compatible with the opportunity perspective on normative economics he has advanced but challenges both standard behavioural welfare economics and the agentic approach supported by, inter alia, Hargraves Heap (2013,2017,2022), Dold and Stanton (2021), and Dold and Lewis (2023). It challenges standard behavioural welfare economics because it pushes back against the psychological realism of a core of latent or true preferences against which one could classify actions as more or less erroneous.…”

Hayek's extended mind: on the (im)possibility of Austrian behavioural economics

“…Buchanan's Cost and Choice (1969) contains the most systematic elaboration of the idea that costs are subjective. Buchanan's subjectivism had partly different roots in Nietzsche and existentialism, a connection recently explored by Dold and Stanton (2021). This, for instance, is visible in Buchanan's 'Natural andArtifactual Man' (1979/1999), in which he distinguishes between the optimizing rational agent and the agent able to imagine themselves anew, someone in the process of becoming.…”