Handbook of Social Economics : 9780444537072 : 26 Nov 2010 : How do economists understand and measure normal social phenomena? Identifying economic strains in activities such as learning, group formation, discrimination, and peer dynamics requires sophisticated data and tools as well as a grasp of prior scholarship. In this volume leading economists provide an authoritative summary of social choice economics, from norms and conventions to the exchange of discrete resources. Including both theoretical and empirical perspectives, their work provides the basis for models that can offer new insights in applied economic analyses. Reviews the recent approaches that enable economists to separate influences of culture from those caused by economic and institutional environmentsExplores the recent willingness among economists to consider new arguments in the utility functionPresumes that these investigations can eventually be translated into policies