Freakonomics Radio

The Invisible Paw

Humans, it has long been thought, are the only animal to engage in economic activity. But what if we’ve had it exactly backward?

What makes humans human? Is it our relentless curiosity? Our use of language? The collaborative and complex nature of our societies and communities?

Economists are likely to point to something else: our propensity for engaging in sophisticated systems of trade. “Nobody ever saw a dog make a fair and deliberate exchange of one bone for another with another dog,” the proto-economist Adam Smith once wrote. “Nobody ever saw one animal, by its gestures and natural cries, signify to another, this is mine, that, yours; I am willing to give this for that.”

Economists sometimes refer to humans as homo economicus because of our ability to trade, to create markets, to respond rationally to supply and demand. But what if Adam Smith was wrong? What if, far from being the only rational economic actors, humans are actually less rational than some animals?

In this week’s episode of Freakonomics Radio, we explore monkey business, fish tales, and ask the following question: if homo is not the only economicus, what does that make us?