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A comment on There are 5,057 janitors in the U.S. with PhDs. Parent comment

Re:There are 5,057 janitors in the U.S. with PhDs by sprout on Friday October 22, 2010 @06:40PM (#1821805)
People want to maximize utility, we'll use money as a proxy, people want to maximize money. I suppose there are economic schools of thought that use other proxies for utility, but you seem to be agreeing with me insofar as the primary stand-in for utility is money, and it is a poor one.
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Re:There are 5,057 janitors in the U.S. with PhDs by achompas on Saturday October 23, 2010 @12:16AM (#1822611)
No, that was my exact point. In general, economics treats money and utility as distinct. I should've been clearer: money only proxies for utility in behavioral experiments.

Labor supply theory, for example, assumes people maximize utility by choosing a combination of work and leisure. It doesn't assume people work as much as possible (or, maximize their money).

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