![]() ![]() Modern economists erected a mathematically elegant and consistent edifice of economic theory based on the assumption that people would act rationally in the sense that they would always maximize their economic well-being. The problem is that although mathematics is perfectly consistent, actual people aren’t. In Thaler’s view, the field of economics took a wrong turn in the mid 20th century when its practitioners attempted to make it more “scientific” than other social sciences by subjecting its precepts to rigorous mathematical models. His latest book, Misbehaving, is part memoire, part history of academic economics, and thoroughly enjoyable and stimulating. Thaler is one of the foremost proponents of a field of inquiry now known as “Behavioral Economics.” He achieved a degree of fame with the general public after his best-selling book Nudge, which he co-authored with Cass Sunstein. ![]()
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