An Economic Theory of Greed, Love, Groups, and Networks

'Mainstream neo-classical economics offers powerful insights into many complex and puzzling patterns of human behavior. Yet these insights go only so far, as many - perhaps, most - behavior patterns fail in untold ways to conform to the simple stimulus-response insights offered by this discipline. Frijters (with Foster) has fundamentally extended this economic paradigm. They have waded into a variety of other human motivations (featured in other disciplines), and selected those patterns that best complement the insights of conventional economics. Concepts of love, friendship, loyalty, power, coalitions, ideals, joy and compassion are all explored, and are used to temper, leaven and expand the insights of self-interested maximization. This is a formidable task, and their efforts are reflected in the breadth and depths of the insights that they offer on issues such as trade policy, environmental regulation, tax compliance, and income redistribution.' Robert Haveman, University of Wisconsin, Madison

'This is the most remarkable book I have read in the last decade. It argues that your life, and society, is shaped by a giant version of the Stockholm Syndrome. If you have no idea what that sentence could mean, and you like a book that is intellectually taxing but unforgettable, this is for you.' Andrew Oswald, University of Warwick, and Visiting Fellow and Acting Research Director, IZA Institute, Bonn

'In the grand tradition of Gary Becker, Paul Frijters offers a unified theory of human behavior …This impressive book seems to explore every nook and cranny of human behavior, and beautifully articulate[s] economic matters on every page.' Jeffrey G. Williamson, Laird Bell Professor of Economics Emeritus, Harvard University, and Honorary Fellow in Economics, University of Wisconsin