Title: Behavioural types determining economic systems

Authors: S.I. Cohen

Addresses: Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Postbox 1738, Rotterdam 3000 DR, The Netherlands

Abstract: The paper formulates an analytical framework that considers the roles of a changing distribution of agents on behavioural settings with distinct behavioural traits and of their interactive behaviour across many settings, in pushing the economic system towards a distinct behavioural type. The framework is elaborated to distinguish between basically different economic systems along distinct behavioural types and applied to major regions in the world. The focus is on three behavioural settings: household firm and state settings and on the behavioural types that associate with these settings. Attention is also given to persuasive settings, which are especially relevant in China and India. The paper addresses also questions as to why and how different paths emerged for alternative systems, their comparative economic performances and their future global outlooks in the context of displacements of leading countries that relate to particular economic systems.

Keywords: economic systems; economic development; states; household firms; behavioural economics; China; India; economic performance; countries.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSS.2010.031465

International Journal of Society Systems Science, 2010 Vol.2 No.1, pp.26 - 51

Published online: 05 Feb 2010 *

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