Homo economicus
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concept in many economic theories of humans as rational and narrowly self-interested actors who have the ability to make judgments toward their subjectively defined ends
Described at
Homo oeconomicus - Enciclopedia - Treccani
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Encyclopedic overview
The term Homo economicus, or economic man, is the portrayal of humans as agents who are consistently rational and narrowly self-interested, and who pursue their subjectively defined ends optimally. It is a wordplay on Homo sapiens, used in some economic theories and in pedagogy.
Homo economicus is generally understood as a methodological abstraction used to simplify and formalize economic analysis, rather than as a literal description of actual human behavior.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Homo economicus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.