This week in Economics for Business, we are looking at 'rational choice' amongst self-interested agents. Yesterday, it was people. Tomorrow, we'll look at firms. The notion of an economy composed of these selfish weirdos has been around for a long time, and this description of agents is used to underpin (or microfound) models of the economy as a whole, something I believe is quite dangerous. Here's Prof. Cosma Shalizi talking about microfoundations, and, more importantly, about alternatives to them. Well worth a read.
