Homo economicus, or economic human, denotes the idea of human beings as rational, narrowly selfinterested agents who, given total information about opportunities and possible constraints, seek to obtain the highest possible well-being for themselves at the least possible cost. In the late 19th century, a host of economists built mathematical models based on conceiving of real humans as Homo economicus.
Exponents of Homo economicus tend to acknowledge that total information is not possible in the real world; thus, breakdown in models based on the concept are due to imperfect information held by the selfinterested economic actors. Amartya Sen has pointed out that Homo economicus ignores that people can and do commit to courses of action out of morality, cultural expectations, and so forth.
What is total information?