Download Misbehaving The Making of Behavioral Economics Audible Audio Edition Richard Thaler L J Ganser Audible Studios Books

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 13 hours and 35 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher Audible Studios Audible.com Release Date May 18, 2015 Whispersync for Voice Ready Language English, English ASIN B00VQTALSA

Misbehaving The Making of Behavioral Economics Audible Audio Edition Richard Thaler L J Ganser Audible Studios Books Reviews

• This book is an intellectual autobiography written by Nobel laureate Richard Thaler. The book provides a glimpse at one of the most interesting intellectual battles within the field of economics a battle between the reductionist and rationalist camp (which has confounded the normative and the descriptive value of its theories), and the empiricist and skeptical camp (which parted away with parsimony and formal elegance in the pursuit of realism).
  
  I won't summarize the wealth of evidence presented (with clarity and grace) in the book. Rather, I will make five general points that will suffice, I think, to entice the undecided reader to take up this good book.
  
  1. This is Kuhnian book. It tells a story of a paradigm shift in the field of economics, from the initial hostility to the reticent acceptance and later to the widespread celebration of behavioral economics (more than ten of its main exponents have been awarded with the Nobel prize).
  
  2. Behavioral economics is already making a dent in public policy. In England and elsewhere, policy makers have embraced some of its prescriptions to tackle various social problems, ranging from obesity to tax evasion. There is a perverse side of behavioral economics though. There are good nudges and bad nudges. Thaler himself sometimes sounds as an expert and unrepentant manipulator (see chapter 13 for example).
  
  3. Economists can no longer ignore the (empirical) relevance of a set of behavioral ideas loss aversion, the endowment effect, mental accounting, hyperbolic discounting, fairness preferences and narrow framing. "Humans do not have the brains of Einstein (or Barro), nor do they have the self-control of an ascetic Buddhist monk. Rather, they have passions, faulty telescopes, treat various pots of wealth quite differently, and can be influenced by short-run returns in the stock market."
  
  4. William Baumol's early critique of behavioral economics in the sense that it should move beyond the discovery of anomalies to a more constructive agenda is still relevant. Some parts of the book are just anomaly-mining followed by ex post theorizing.
  
  5. While reading the book, I often remembered a famous dictum by novelist (and also Nobel laurate) Elias Canetti "there aren't the most profound ideas which have often the greatest influence." This book shows that simple ideas can indeed be quite influential.
• As an economics major in college (but not career) I always thought that the mathematical models were impressive but a perfect example of GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out.) The main problem was that they were all based on Economic Man, a mythical creature like unicorns. I never met any so I assumed that a new theory was needed. Just one example To Economic Man the pain of losing $100 is equal to the pleasure of making $100 which we all know is not true. This book tries to bring this discrepancy in to economics by showing that Economic Man Misbehaves according to Classic but not Behavioral Economics.classical
• I have previously read and used in my MBA class "Nudge" by Thaler and Cass Sunstein, and have encouraged my colleagues for years to offer behavioral finance in our curriculum. Alas, a couple of the finance guys are die hard "chicago school" folks who still believe in "the myth of the rational market" (the title of another good book I read and highly recommend). Folks in Europe imposing austerity on Greece seem equally misguided these days. In any event, this is a personal intellectual autobiography of the man who was at the center over the past forty years of the emergence of the movement to tie economics and finance to facts, and to use experiments sometimes borrowed from psychology and other social sciences to demonstrate that we are, after all, "humans" rather than perfectly informed, always rational "econs" in our lives and choices. The presentation of ideas and introduction to the important contributors to this intellectual movement make this a valuable introduction that is accessible to the general reader and non-academic, while providing useful references to further reading for students and public policy wonks as well. Highly recommended to all. If you liked Dan Ariely's "Predictably Irrational" you will find this well worth reading.
• I was drawn to this book given that its author is a pioneer in behavioural economics. To me, it reads like a sequel to the fascinating works of psychologists Kahneman and Tversky on decision making and prospect theory.
  
  The book affords a close-up look (a firsthand account) at the exploration throughout the entire professional career of an illustrious economist. The subject is the role of human psychology in the decision making process. His experiments and observations bring into question some very basic assumptions and hypotheses in classic economics, such as rationality in consumer choices and efficient markets.
  
  The detailed discussion of economic issues is sometimes rather academic/technical. It helps if the reader comes with a basic understanding of principles and methods in the study of economics (which I do not possess). In any case, the account of the tense academic debates surrounding the subject is quite fascinating to read. Towards the end of the book, the author also provides useful insights on the implications of behavioural considerations for public policy.
  
  In all, this is a highly recommended book that should provide an engrossing read.