How Human Behaviour Shapes the Economy
Professor Richard Thaler, a Nobel Prize winning behavioural economist, tackles some of the biggest issues facing Britain and explains why humans aren’t always rational.
How do human choices, biases, and behaviours shape our economy? This week Amol speaks to Nobel Prize winning behavioural economist Professor Richard Thaler about his theories that dive into the patterns behind our decision-making and reveal why humans aren’t always as rational as we like to think.
From overconfidence and the lure of winning at any cost, to the hidden costs of risk-taking and the psychology of incentives, his research shows why individuals and markets sometimes make surprising — or even seemingly irrational — choices.
By unpacking the experiments described in his book The Winner’s Curse we get an insight into his work and he applies these behavioural insights to the issues facing the UK today. They discuss how to get young people off welfare and into work, government debt and why Richard believes the winter fuel allowance needs a rethink.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today podcast for BBC Radio 4. Episode are released every Thursday and you can also listen to them on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r
