Richard Thaler on Behavioral Economics: Past, Present, and Future

Richard Thaler gives a lecture in the 2018 Nora and Edward Ryerson Lecture at the University of Chicago. In the lecture he discusses his Nobel Prize winning research. The lectures covers introductory concepts of behavioral economics, with quotes by Adam Smith, Keynes and others. Although economcs is all about behaviour, behavioural economics challenges and expands the simplicistic assumptions of neoclassical economics by applying concepts of psychology. Further discussion takes place on the possibility of optimization, impulse control, self-restraint. Next, he talks about the assumptions of intelligence and how people make mistakes and that these mistakes are predictable. He goes on to talk about human decisions in real life and in experiments, human cooperation, saving for retirement and mutual funds.

Comment from our editors:

This is a good lecture delivered with a tincture of fun. Engaging and useful for people new to the concept of Behavioral Economics. I would suggest to watch at 1.25x or 1.5x speed on YouTube to save some time.

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