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Markets and motives - Trust and egoism in welfare markets

Taylor-Gooby, Peter (1999) Markets and motives - Trust and egoism in welfare markets. Journal of Social Policy, 28 . pp. 97-114. ISSN 0047-2794. (doi:10.1017/S0047279499005450) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:16676)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047279499005450

Abstract

Enthusiasm for the expansion of markets in welfare reflects the currency of assumptions derived fi om rational choice theory among policy-makers. This article reviews recent evidence from the ESRC's Economic Beliefs and Behaviour programme that calls into question the basic tenet of the rational choice approach - that individual choices are driven by instrumental rationality - and argues that welfare markets require a normative framework in which trust plays an important role. Experimental evidence from recent work in economic psychology indicates that individuals often display a level of trust in market interactions that is hard to explain on the basis of simple rationality, but that such trust is fragile and easily undermined by egoistic action. Lack of attention to the normative issues which the rational choice approach fails to capture may lead to the design of markets which are inefficient in meeting the aims of policy-makers and which deplete the moral legacy on which many welfare markets in practice depend.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1017/S0047279499005450
Additional information: Part 1
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Funders: Economic and Social Research Council (https://ror.org/03n0ht308)
Depositing User: F.D. Zabet
Date Deposited: 21 Mar 2009 11:09 UTC
Last Modified: 12 Jul 2022 10:39 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/16676 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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