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Rational Choice Theory

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Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research

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Synonyms

Optimal choice theory; Optimization theory; Rational decision-making; Rationality

Definition

Rational choice theory is a formal choice theory that starts from arguably widely accepted basic axioms and builds a logically consistent decision model for maximizing the objective of a decision-maker. Formal rational choice theory was mainly developed and used in economics, particularly microeconomics, but its influence reaches far wider than economics.

Description

Rational choice theory is a decision theory mainly developed within economics and related to the rise and formalization of the “neo-classical” school. It focuses on the choice of individuals and hence is an advocate of “methodological individualism” grounding higher-level societal choices on the decisions of individuals. The formal theory starts from relatively simple but arguably widely accepted assumptions about preferences of individuals and then builds a formal decision-making framework where individuals maximize net...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of International Development (DEV), University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    Bereket Kebede

Authors
  1. Bereket Kebede
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Correspondence to Bereket Kebede .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Roma, Italy

    Filomena Maggino

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Economics, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Matteo Corsi

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Kebede, B. (2023). Rational Choice Theory. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17299-1_2422

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