COMPLEXITY, VALUE, AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL POSTULATES OF ECONOMICS

Does the contemporary built environment-the ensemble of our humanly cr eated surroundings-make us happy? This question prompts a consideratio n of the psychological dimensions of economic value, and of Tibor Scit ovsky's revisions of standard economic theory With Scitovsky as it sta rting point, a model of value based on modern complexity theory and a Maslow-like rendition of human needs can account for some of the more important exceptions to the law of diminished marginal utility, includ ing chose that may undermine the built environment in a market economy .