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Perhaps I am naive, but is not rational choice theory simply yet another example of economics being little more than an elaborate justification for the status quo? Like most adults, I am a spouse, a parent and a member of a wider family. Most of my earnings are spent on others ie my family. This is a rational choice, since to do so gives me more satisfaction (utility?) than disposing of my income in other ways. Does this make me selfish? It is equally true that in my political choices I am at least as concerned with the well being of others as in my own material benefit.

Rational choice theory is little more than an intellectual and morally acceptable defence of inequalities which characterise societies dominated by the free market.

COLIN BOULTER

2 Riverside Close