What is Metaeconomics?
Metaeconomics is an empathy-based, science- and humanities-grounded alternative to mainstream Microeconomics. Instead of assuming only ego-based self-interest as in Single Interest Theory (SIT) in Microeconomics, Metaeconomics uses Dual Interest Theory (DIT), which explicitly recognizes empathy-based shared other-interest as an internal motivation within human behavior.
What is Dual Interest Theory (DIT)?
Dual Interest Theory (DIT) holds that human behavior arises through the joint operation of two motivations: ego-based self-interest (relating to profane incentive) & empathy-based shared other-interest (holding the sacred ethic). Economic stability depends on maintaining an appropriate balance within this jointly operative, interdependent, and nonseparable system, rather than privileging one dimension over the other.
How does Dual Interest Theory (DIT) in Metaeconomics relate to Adam Smith?
Adam Smith emphasized that moral sentiments—the ethic—must temper self-interest. Metaeconomics formalizes Smith’s insight using modern behavioral science, treating Smith’s two major works as one operative argument: wealth & sentiment, self & other(shared)-interest, incentive & ethic. As Smith intended, within Metaeconomics the ethic tempers the incentive and is therefore essential to economic efficiency, market viability, and social stability.
Core DIT Notation
In Metaeconomics, the symbol "&" is more notation than writing convention, used deliberately to denote the jointness, interdependence, and nonseparability of paired concepts. Expressions such as ego & empathy, self & other(shared)-interest, wealth & sentiment, incentive & ethic, market & government, and profane & sacred are formal DIT terms, not merely stylistic expressions. In some contexts, the spacing is omitted (for example, self&other-interest, profaneF&sacredS, or simply FS) to further emphasize the conceptual unity. The symbol "&" signifies that the paired concepts operate jointly and have to be understood as jointly operative, interdependent, and nonseparable rather than as independent concepts.
Neuroscience and Social Neuroscience Supporting DIT
Dual Interest Theory (DIT) Stands on the Foundation of Nonallocable Inputs and Goods
DIT stands most fundamentally on nonallocability of some consumption decision (or inputs into production) between the two main payoffs in the domain of the profane&sacred. The following list of papers based in neuroscience and social neuroscience research was recommended by ChatGPT, organizing around the DIT sequence:
​
nonallocable good/action → jointly generated payoff dimensions → partly distinct neural representations → integration/choice → self-command/regulation
​
Neuroscience does not use the notion of nonallocability, so none of these papers directly tests that formal economic proposition. What we should look for instead is its neural analogue: does one object/action simultaneously generate multiple value-relevant signals, sometimes in partly distinct systems, which must then be integrated into one choice?
The list in the following table becomes relevant, produced by ChatGPT after I asked for And, I am including the list here not because I have read all of the papers in detail, but, to show what needs to be considered in thinking about the scientific basis for DIT.