The formation of preferences is an elusive subject that many social scientists, and especially economists, have tended to avoid. In this original new book, Wilfred Dolfsma combines institutional economics with insights from the other social sciences to analyse the way in which preferences are...

Fashion is the quintessential post-modernist consumer practice, or so many hold. In this contribution, I argue that, on the contrary, fashion should be understood as a means of communicating one's commitment to modernist values. I introduce the framework of the Social Value Network, to relate...

In this article, contrary to popular belief, it is argued on the basis of Transaction CostEconomics that consumers will become dependent subcontractors on electronic markets.Consumers invest time and effort building up a relation with a producer or e-tailer; aninvestment that is idiosyncratic....