Con un po' di immaginazione Max U è recuperabile anche nei casi seguenti:
1. Economists who complain that Christmas presents are inefficient.
2. Economists who complain that buying lottery tickets is foolish.
3. Economists who assume that smoking is inefficient because (they assume) the health risk is greater than the benefit (i.e. enjoyment) from smoking.
4. Economists who say that voting is not rational because there is only a tiny probability that your vote will swing an election.
This kind of thinking led Deirdre McCloskey to turn away from "maximizing utility" models of behavior. I see her point. But I don't see utility as the problem, but rather a lack of imagination as to all the subtle ways that people can derive utility.
