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I read Ariely's "Predictably Irrational" years and years ago, and was fascinated by it. I'd been an economics graduate, and was surprised that we were only intr
by 2T1Qka0rEiPr 6y ago
I read Ariely's "Predictably Irrational" years and years ago, and was fascinated by it. I'd been an economics graduate, and was surprised that we were only introduced to "Behavioural Economics" as a field in the final semester of the course.
To be sure, if you want to read far more academic material, you should look at Kahneman, Sunstein or Thaler's books - but Ariely's writing style is in my opinion more fun and approachable to the lay person. It was definitely my gateway drug into the subject matter.
- sprafa 6y agoCharlie Munger said "if economics isn't behavioral, what the hell is it?"
- beefield 6y agoA weird bastard child of ideology and mathematics.
- clairity 6y agonote that an ideology on its own is not bad (or necessarily good). it's being ideological--adhering to an ideology against any and all evidence--that's bad. humanity, including science, economics, the arts, etc., is driven by ideology, ideas that take hold because of a tantalizing kernel of truth in them. progress (and regress) happens on the back of ideology. the rational actor at the center of economics is an ideological construct that we act to always maximize our economic return. how we adhere, and the system adheres, to that ideal has been the focus of a significant strain of economic thought. behavioral economics is another ideological strain that focuses primarily on those deviations (perhaps as a dominant mode) rather than the adherences of the progenitor ideology.
- kashyapc 6y agoAbout 10 years ago, I too, as a newbie-layman, started with "Predictably Irrational". I recall being similarly fascinated, and recommending it to anyone who'd listen to me. It's surely a gentler start to the field; and I concur with you on suggestions for deeper material.
- ghaff 6y agoNudge is pretty easy reading from Thaler and Sunstein. Personally tough, I preferred his Misbehaving which goes into his history with the field. Way back when, I had a couple courses with Thaler when he was calling the field Behavioural Decision Theory.
- 2T1Qka0rEiPr 6y agoAgreed - Misbehaving is a really interesting history of the development of the field, and the characters introduced along the way. I was also doing Thaler a dis-service, I find his writing to be far more page-turny than Kahneman or Sunstein.
- tuatoru 6y ago> Misbehaving is a really interesting history of the development of the field A Thaler-centric history. There are others... (I have a copy of Misbehaving.)
- kashyapc 6y agoThanks for the 'Misbehaving' recommendation.