"Immaculate Conception" of Indifference Curves
One of the most peculiar illusions of economists is the doctrine of what might be called the "Immaculate Conception" of the indifference curve, that is, the doctrine that tastes are simply given and we cannot inquire into the process by which they are formed. This doctrine is literally "for the birds," whose tastes are largely created for them by their genetic structures and can therefore be treated as a constant in the dynamics of bird societies.
"Economics as a Moral Science," Presidential Address to the American Economic Association, Chicago, December 1968, and published in the American Economic Review, March 1969.
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