ESCP Europe

Nobel laureate Richard H. Thaler has spent his career studying the radical notion that the central agents in the economy are humans-predictable, error-prone individuals. Misbehaving is his arresting, frequently hilarious account of the struggle to bring an academic discipline back down to earth-and change the way we think about economics, ourselves, and our world. Traditional economics assumes rational actors. Early in his research, Thaler realized these Spock-like automatons were nothing like real people. Whether buying a clock radio, selling basketball tickets, or applying for a mortgage, we all succumb to biases and make decisions that deviate from the standards of rationality assumed by economists. In other words, we misbehave. More importantly, our misbehavior has serious consequences. Dismissed at first by economists as an amusing sideshow, the study of human miscalculations and their effects on markets now drives efforts to make better decisions in our lives, our businesses, and our governments. Coupling recent discoveries in human psychology with a practical understanding of incentives and market behavior, Thaler enlightens readers about how to make smarter decisions in an increasingly mystifying world. He reveals how behavioral economic analysis opens up new ways to look at everything from household finance to assigning faculty offices in a new building, to TV game shows, the NFL draft, and businesses like Uber. Warum fällt es uns so schwer, Geld fürs Alter zurückzulegen, obwohl dies vernünftig wäre? Warum essen wir zu viel fettige Speisen, obwohl wir wissen, dass es uns schadet? Warum sind unsere Neujahrsvorsätze fast immer zum Scheitern verurteilt? Nobelpreisträger Richard Thaler hat als erster Ökonom anschaulich gezeigt, dass unser Handeln in Wirtschaft und Alltag zutiefst irrational und unberechenbar ist - und hat damit die traditionellen Grundannahmen der Ökonomie auf den Kopf gestellt. In diesem Buch fasst er die Forschungen der Verhaltensökonomik zusammen und zeigt anhand vieler Beispiele aus Beruf und Alltag, warum das Konzept des rational handelnden Homo Oeconomicus ein fataler Irrglaube ist.