Tibor Scitovsky as behavioral economist

Abstract

The paper discusses Tibor Scitovsky’s behavioral approach focusing on three issues that highlight his original contribution. These issues mark both a point of contact with what we have come to associate with the term “Behavioral Economics”, notably the works of Kahneman, Tversky and Thaler, and a point of departure.
Specifically, they refer to the behavioral assumptions that might explain economic choice and their connection with individual rationality, the origin and meaning of the possible contrast between choice and preferences, and the welfare implications that might follow.
Scitovsky’s economic approach benefitted greatly from a line of psychological research that opened up the understanding of human behavior to the motivations and goals of choice and stressed the role of those creative activities that reward exploration and curiosity. This meant for Scitovsky placing great importance to the acquisition of those life skills that enrich and expand one’s own potentialities and wellbeing.