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A review by ssindc
Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard H. Thaler
5.0
Yup - this is now (officially) the memoir/autobiography of the 2017 Nobel Prize Winner.....
This was a lot of fun, but it is what it is. It's a career academic writing about his professional journey - basically the story of the evolution of his successful, productive, and (arguably) paradigm shifting lifetime of research - for a popular audience in the context of the intersection of economics and, well, everything related to behavior, which, of course, includes a healthy dose of psychology.
The book holds together nicely, but what makes the book a joy are the examples, anecdotes, and results from empirical research. The topics run the gamut - from retirement savings to household insulation to corporate leadership to the NFL draft to taxation to the bowls of nuts on the table to, for me, the most entertaining, the selection of faculty offices in an elite graduate school.
If you haven't studied or read or thought much about economics, I have no idea how accessible this would be, but it wouldn't surprise me if it would be interesting and thought-provoking for anyone willing to read and question their preconceived notions and ... think.
There's a lot of life inside the ivory tower stuff that I'm guessing plenty of readers will find lies somewhere between inside baseball and too much information and geeks tell all drama, but - at least for me - I found it hugely entertaining.
It was fun reading this soon after enjoying Rodrik's Economics Rules, and I'm guessing anyone that enjoys one will enjoy the other.
Side note: I haven't yet read Nudge, Thaler's well known collaboration with Cass Sunstein, but I'll probably go back and read it at some point. At least based on my experience, this book stands up just fine on its own.
This was a lot of fun, but it is what it is. It's a career academic writing about his professional journey - basically the story of the evolution of his successful, productive, and (arguably) paradigm shifting lifetime of research - for a popular audience in the context of the intersection of economics and, well, everything related to behavior, which, of course, includes a healthy dose of psychology.
The book holds together nicely, but what makes the book a joy are the examples, anecdotes, and results from empirical research. The topics run the gamut - from retirement savings to household insulation to corporate leadership to the NFL draft to taxation to the bowls of nuts on the table to, for me, the most entertaining, the selection of faculty offices in an elite graduate school.
If you haven't studied or read or thought much about economics, I have no idea how accessible this would be, but it wouldn't surprise me if it would be interesting and thought-provoking for anyone willing to read and question their preconceived notions and ... think.
There's a lot of life inside the ivory tower stuff that I'm guessing plenty of readers will find lies somewhere between inside baseball and too much information and geeks tell all drama, but - at least for me - I found it hugely entertaining.
It was fun reading this soon after enjoying Rodrik's Economics Rules, and I'm guessing anyone that enjoys one will enjoy the other.
Side note: I haven't yet read Nudge, Thaler's well known collaboration with Cass Sunstein, but I'll probably go back and read it at some point. At least based on my experience, this book stands up just fine on its own.