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In his article G. Becker[1] uses an economic approach in understanding human behavior, he tries to point out the main features of this approach and convince a reader in superior abilities of this approach. Within this framework, the author explains, the unified approach to human behaviors, decision-making and all aspects of people’s existence could be introduced properly.

The article highlights three components of the economic approach, which collapsing in such a way create that approach as it is. They are: maximizing behavior, market equilibrium and stable preferences. These three basic assumptions establish the economic approach and this way distinguish economic from other social sciences even better than widespread definitions of economics.

The author claims that none of three economics’ definitions discussed in the beginning of the article outlines the essence of what economic is and what economists do. By saying this author implies that in order to understand the essence of economic something more than definition is required. Becker suggests that the economic approach is a good tool to explain and introduce the absolute rules and laws of economics. Nevertheless, the economic approach, according to the article, isn’t a harsh formulae or pattern; indeed it is flexible collection of tools to analyze information, its availability and importance; principles of profitability; preferences and behavior of individuals.

The flexibility of the economic approach is confirmed by the fact that it never comes up with statements of irrational behavior. Indeed, it allows some cost (measured in money equivalence as well as in spiritual satisfaction) to adjust preferences and thus behavior. Becker means the economic approach hasn’t got as its aim to label some behavior as irrational; it provides preferences with possibility of being represented the way they are fully rational, regardless we may think they are irrational at the first glance. Therefore the economic approach consists of the analysis of optimal possibilities together with already mentioned costs which can influence that optimal behavior. Here the value of the economic approach for economics becomes well organized approach for the analysis of human behavior.

In the spirit of above stated, the author writes about the universal abilities of the economic approach in explaining different spheres of human life, i.e. discrimination, crimes, time management and education, personal preferences like marriage-divorce decisions, habits. Even politics and demography are possible objects to be successfully considered in the light of the economic approach.

To provide an insight of economic approach, Becker gives examples of economic approach application imposed on the real life situations, such as length of the life, harmful habits; marriage decisions and choosing career. On these examples the article shows how economic notions and laws - utility, preferences, supply, demand etc. can be used to analyze ordinary life situations. In the “lifetime” example, the author explains that individuals try to maximize the life length but costs, in the form of life quality, force people to give up the possibility of living year or two longer.

Becker draws attention to the problems of application of the economic approach. Among gaps of this method the author mentions unstable preferences which can influence analysis outcome and make it predictable; assertion of irrationality of preference often appears make analysis incomplete. This problems as the article claims are often feature of economist’s analysis. For example, the main flow in Bentham’s pain-pleasure analysis and Marx’s decisive production thesis, was unstable preference tolerance, which caused predictable character of their research’ outcomes. Here Becker states, that sometimes economists don’t understand economic approach properly omitting some important details and as a result make not complete and proper conclusions, or get bogged down with notions. For Bentham and Marx Becker says stable preference assumption weren’t hold.

Together with the importance of the economic approach the author recognizes the importance of different noneconomic variables and contributions of experts are important for understanding human behavior. The uniqueness of the economic approach consists of the possibility of analyzing different preferences obtained from social scientists with the help of noneconomic parameters and formulating fair, clear enough  predictions and conclusions concerning individual’s behavior.

 Saying this Becker puts an emphasis on the importance of the economic approach in analyzing the objectives of human behavior. According to the article this approach offers a unified framework for understanding and explaining individual’s behavior. The word “unified” here means the economic approach is a useful device gathering quite effective techniques in analyzing all aspects of human reality.