Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/107298 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 5110
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
The hypothesis of non-satiation of rational choice theory is very seldom posed under scrutiny, maybe because it is taken as an anthropologic reality. Looking closer to that, we discover that it is taken for granted only in economic theory, and that it has become a reality as a result of a cultural process. This paper makes a brief story of this axiom, and looks at how it recently shifted into a modification of the original concept of adaptation. Using theoretical research in psychology, we find out that non-satiation is indeed not a natural feature of human beings, but a challenge to their happiness and a potentially pathological sign. The distinction between needs and requirements provides a new and solid ground on which we can discuss the quality of human needs, which is, according to Keynes, a key concept to define what the economic problem' is.
Subjects: 
non-satiation
needs
requirements
happiness
choice
adaptation
economic problem
JEL: 
D01
D11
D69
I31
I39
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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