Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T06:03:15.733Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

12 - The blind leading the blind: social influence, fads, and informational cascades

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2009

By
David Hirshleifer
Edited by
Mariano Tommasi  and
Kathryn Ierulli
Foreword by
Gary Becker
Mariano Tommasi
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Kathryn Ierulli
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago
Get access

Summary

Introduction

Why do teenagers at one school take drugs while at another they “just say no”? Why do Americans act American, Germans act German, and Indians act Indian? Why did English and American youths enthusiastically enlist to fight in World War I, whereas pacifist sentiments were more popular before World War II and in the 1960s? These are all examples of one of the most striking regularities of human society: localized conformity.

Localization in either time or place seems to cast doubt upon the idea that people make rational and intelligent choices. If illegal drug use is a bad idea, why do people participate in waves of abuse of different kinds of drugs at different times? If the sale of marijuana is illegal in America, why is it sold legally in Amsterdam drug cafes? If the Chinese know that cold drinks harm the digestion, are Americans blundering when they guzzle Coke?

Part of the explanation is that people in different places don't observe each other's behavior. Germans do many things differently from me, but I don't know specifically what most of these things are. A high school student who sees his friends taking drugs may not realize that members of other cliques do not take drugs.

Type
Chapter
Information
The New Economics of Human Behaviour , pp. 188 - 215
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×