L’économie du comportement à la lumière des Maximes du Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Abstract

Within the French moralists of the 17th century, François de La Rochefoucauld proposes, in his famous Maxims, a comprehensive theory of human motivations. La Rochefoucauld examines the effects of hazards and moods on judgment and integrates an extended conception of self-love. In this article, we assess the possible links between the French moralist and behavioural economists. The main objective of behavioural economists is to improve the explanatory power of economics models by introducing realistic psychological foundations. We show that the Maxims anticipate the role that unconscious mechanisms (emotions, moods, hazards) play within contemporary behavioural economics. We also show that the broader conception of self-love underpinned by the Maxims is closely related to the way behavioural models introduce “other-regarding” preferences.

Keywords

• Maxims
• La Rochefoucauld (François de)
• self-love
• virtue
• emotion
• unconscious