Information Systems, Preferences, and the Economy in the JEI

Abstract

A distinctive theme which pervades the Journal of Economic Issues has been the assertion of the artifactual and contingent character of preferences and the necessity of so defining and analyzing the economic system as to provide for their endogenous formation rather than to treat them as exogenous, given, and fixed. This theme is actually an important part of a larger set of themes concerning the economic place, role, and operation of information and information systems. The purpose of this article is to present a systematic integration and interpretation of the materials published in the JEI relating to information systems and preference formation. Orthodox economists, from Carl Menger through Frank Knight, have known and indeed emphasized that preferences are socially determined. For a variety of reasons, however, they have preferred to treat preferences as given in the great bulk of formal microeconomic theory. Those reasons include the following: analytical manageability and convenience; profes-