Homo Oeconomicus

Abstract

When was Homo Oeconomicus born, and to what purpose? We discuss his desire to get rid of the natural scarcity of resources and outline the causes and consequences of the advent of money. With the division of labour, a tremendous increase in the production of goods and services emerged and societies had to decide how to allocate this surplus among individuals. A brief theory for the private accumulation of wealth is proposed together with a discussion of the recent destruction of collective wealth. We support the claim that strong socioeconomic mechanisms were already in place during the last ice age.