Decision-making for others

Decision-making for others (DMFO) is a cross-disciplinary research area trying to understand how people decide for others when the decision consequences do not affect themselves. There is no consistent theory to describe behaviour in such situations, so the bulk of research in economics and psychology trying to identify a general pattern of the motivating factors is done experimentally. The largest part of the economic literature examines risky (investment) decisions for others, with further topics such as paternalism, delegation preferences and moral behaviour being taken up more recently.