Introduction

Man is not perfect. This — admittedly trivial — insight has up to now been applied to economics in a very limited extend. A large amount of work in theoretical economics concentrates on ‘perfectly rational’ subjects, who are sometimes even given the gracious gift of ‘perfect foresight’. The main actors of theoretical economic models are often omniscient and omnipotent. Even more, subjects are assumed to be identical with respect to their preferences and aversions, their endowments and decisions and many things more.