Extending the Informational Basis of Welfare Economics:The Case of Preference Dynamics

Normative reasoning in welfare economics and social contract theory usually presumesinvariable, context-independent individual preferences. Following recent work particularlyin behavioral economics this assumption is difficult to defend. This paper therefore exploreswhat can be said about preferences and their changes from a motivation-theoreticperspective, i.e. by explaining what motivates economic agents in making their choices andwhat mechanisms of change are at work here. We show that on this basis it is possible tocomplement social welfare assessments by a differential weighing of different humanmotivations which is derived from empirically informed foundations rather than from adhoc arguments.