Chapter 13
Behavioral Economics: Investigating Irrationality
IN THIS CHAPTER
Defining irrationality as systematic error
Explaining how evolution delivered a brain prone to systematic error
Understanding heuristics and cognitive biases
Probing prospect theory
Focusing on myopia and time inconsistency
Assessing the evidence for fairness and non-self-interested behavior
Remember that Victorian-era historian named Thomas Carlyle? He was the one who skewered economics as “the dismal science” in the late 19th century. Fortunately for everyone, behavioral economics popped onto the scene in the late 20th century. Within a few short years, the dismal began to dazzle.
Explaining the Need for Behavioral Economics
Conventional 20th-century neoclassical economics makes many accurate predictions about human choice behavior and how it responds to financial incentives and incrementally changing ...
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