Scan barcode
A review by jsilber42
Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard H. Thaler
3.0
As the title suggests, this book is about the development of the field of behavioral economics, as told from the perspective of one of the pioneers in the field. Behavioral economics essentially combines traditional economics with psychology - traditionally, economics assumed perfectly rational, well-informed, logical people as participants (what Thaler calls "econs"). Unfortunately, people are not rational or well-informed or logical - they make poor choices, react emotionally and for short-term happiness, and in general do not behave like "econs". Behavioral economics attempts to correct traditional economics for these human quirks.
Thaler writes in a very conversational style, something of a cross between a guy telling you a story and a likeable professor teaching you. This style makes the book a fairly quick read, although it's clear that Thaler isn't a writer by trade. In particular, the parts of the book that aren't teaching you behavioral economics - the parts where he talks about moving from college to college, and the different people he worked with, and so forth - were much less interesting to me. Additionally, I found it hard to keep straight all the other people, whom Thaler introduces once and then just refers to by their first names thereafter.
The behavioral economics sections are fun, though. Fast-paced and short and reasonably easy to follow, Thaler talks about the behavioral economics side of topics like the stock market, the NFL draft, 401(k) accounts, game shows, and more. If you like books like Freakonomics, you'll probably enjoy this stuff. In fact, if you felt like Freakonomics was a little too shallow, this book is probably what you are looking for - it was about the right amount of technical detail for an intelligent but non-professional.
Thaler writes in a very conversational style, something of a cross between a guy telling you a story and a likeable professor teaching you. This style makes the book a fairly quick read, although it's clear that Thaler isn't a writer by trade. In particular, the parts of the book that aren't teaching you behavioral economics - the parts where he talks about moving from college to college, and the different people he worked with, and so forth - were much less interesting to me. Additionally, I found it hard to keep straight all the other people, whom Thaler introduces once and then just refers to by their first names thereafter.
The behavioral economics sections are fun, though. Fast-paced and short and reasonably easy to follow, Thaler talks about the behavioral economics side of topics like the stock market, the NFL draft, 401(k) accounts, game shows, and more. If you like books like Freakonomics, you'll probably enjoy this stuff. In fact, if you felt like Freakonomics was a little too shallow, this book is probably what you are looking for - it was about the right amount of technical detail for an intelligent but non-professional.