The behavior of the value activists cannot be explained well on the basis of conventional economic conceptions of self-interest, such as income maximization Of course, it would be surprising if self-interest, perhaps in terms of desire for reputation or even notoriety, were not involved. Yet a complete explanation of their behavior on the basis of self-interest would require a broadening of the concept of self-interest to the point at which distinctions among motivations would be lost A scholar committed to rational-choice analysis, however, would have a response: that in moving too quickly from interests to values the investigator may overlook interest-based explanations, and take actors self-presentations too much at face value. Although the insistence of some scholars on seeking to explain al behavior as motivated by narrowly-defined self-interest overlooks whole dimensions of human thought and action it does have the advantage of forcing the investigator to think hard -and often ingeniously -about how interests could explain puzzling behavior. 2 For a discussion of "availability cascades, "often involving a combination of moralism, search for information, and concern about reputation, see Timur Kuran and Cass R. Sunstein, "Availability Cascades and Risk Regulation, "51 Stanford Law Review 387(1999). I am indebted to George Downs for this I am indebted to Eric Posner, in comments on an earlier version of this paper, for this point9 The behavior of the value activists cannot be explained well on the basis of conventional economic conceptions of self-interest, such as income maximization. Of course, it would be surprising if self-interest, perhaps in terms of desire for reputation or even notoriety, were not involved.25 Yet a complete explanation of their behavior on the basis of self-interest would require a broadening of the concept of self-interest to the point at which distinctions among motivations would be lost. A scholar committed to rational-choice analysis, however, would have a response: that in moving too quickly from interests to values the investigator may overlook interest-based explanations, and take actors’ self-presentations too much at face value.26 Although the insistence of some scholars on seeking to explain all behavior as motivated by narrowly-defined self-interest overlooks whole dimensions of human thought and action, it does have the advantage of forcing the investigator to think hard – and often ingeniously – about how interests could explain puzzling behavior. 25 For a discussion of “availability cascades,” often involving a combination of moralism, search for information, and concern about reputation, see Timur Kuran and Cass R. Sunstein, “Availability Cascades and Risk Regulation,” 51 Stanford Law Review 387 (1999). I am indebted to George Downs for this reference. 26 I am indebted to Eric Posner, in comments on an earlier version of this paper, for this point