first and second order preferences

by acha11 24. March 2011 19:51
Clive Hamilton distinguishes between first- and second-order preferences using an example: a man wolfing down a fatty hamburger is fulfilling a first-order preference, and yet at the same time he may be thinking to himself "i should be eating a salad"; his second-order preference is a preference about his preferences - "i wish i preferred salad over hamburgers".

"Second-order preferences have greater authority [than first-order preferences] in that they are more likely to represent our best interests because they are the result of rational deliberation. The social problem that arises from this analysis is not that the market, through advertising, changes our tastes: it is that the market has a tendency to create conflict between our first- and second-order preferences, an 'inefficient' outcome."






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