The Whys of Social Exclusion : Insights from Behavioral Economics

Hoff, Karla ; Walsh, James

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS;    CULTURE;    IMPLICIT DISCRIMINATION;    STEREOTYPE;    PSYCHOLOGY;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8267
RP-ID  :  WPS8267

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

All over the world, people are preventedfrom participating fully in society through mechanisms thatgo beyond the structural and institutional barriersidentified by rational choice theory (poverty, exclusion bylaw or force, taste-based and statistical discrimination,and externalities from social networks). This essaydiscusses four additional mechanisms that boundedrationality can explain: (i) implicit discrimination, (ii)self-stereotyping and self-censorship, (iii) “fast thinking”adapted to underclass neighborhoods, and (iv) "adaptivepreferences" in which an oppressed group views itsoppression as natural or even preferred. Stable institutionshave cognitive foundations -- concepts, categories, socialidentities, and worldviews -- that function like lensesthrough which individuals see themselves and the world.Abolishing or reforming a discriminatory institution mayhave little effect on these lenses. Groups previouslydiscriminated against by law or policy may remain excludedthrough habits of the mind. Behavioral economics recognizesforces of social exclusion left out of rational choicetheory, and identifies ways to overcome them. Someinterventions have had very consequential impact.