Revealed Preference
In an earlier post I mentioned Frans de Waal, author of the very interesting book Chimpanzee Politics. I just came across an online quote from him on a different topic—ending with:
"And so I usually use it as an example I don’t trust questionaires at all ... you need to pay attention to behavior, behavior is the only thing that tells us what the real preferences are."
So far as I could tell from his book, de Waal does not have a background in economics. He does, however, inhabit the same world we do, and so has reinvented the principle of revealed preference.
Which reminds me of a quote from another author I am fond of: "Any spoke can lead an ant to the hub."