When people go through experiences, frequently their loyalties, or their values, change. I call these value-changing experiences “loyalty filters.” This paper considers the case where these values are partially, but not totally, changeable. In addition, persons, by having a choice over their experiences, can exercise some choice over their values; or perhaps more typically, persons may choose for their children experiences that will lead them to have desired values. Insofar as this occurs, values are not fixed, as in standard economics, but are a matter of choice. Economic theory, which is largely a theory of choice, then becomes a useful tool in analyzing how these values are chosen. Most persons attempt to choose values for their children (and perhaps also for themselves) according to their economic opportunities that allow them to get along economically. According to Robert Coles' Children of Crisis, not only the wealthy (who will be discussed at some length in Section II), but also the poorest of the poor – immigrants, sharecroppers, and mountaineers – consciously teach their children values aimed at leading them best to survive economically.

The Wealth of Nations concerned itself with the issue of how the economy would behave if everyone were to behave selfishly. Adam Smith's famous answer to this question in terms of the invisible hand is the key result in economic theory.