How Economic Models Rewrote Human Nature and Reshaped Policy
Mar 8th 2026
Economists adopted a narrow image of human nature—self-interested, competitive, insatiable and rational—and those assumptions were built into laws and incentives that shape markets, policy and environmental outcomes.
- Economists simplified humans as self-interested agents who maximise utility to make models tractable.
- Darwinian ideas helped normalise competition as natural and meritocratic in economic thinking.
- Assuming endless desire made continuous growth seem like a psychological and policy necessity.
- Homo economicus presumes perfect information and narrow rationality focused on optimisation.
- Those simplified assumptions influenced laws, institutions and incentives that favour markets over other values.
- Markets have failed to price or protect ecological and unpaid social goods, contributing to environmental harm.