bleary's review against another edition
5.0
Classical economics assumes that the economy is inherently rational - people make sensible decisions based on available data, and markets self-correct any errors.
Behavioural economics rejects this and instead points out that, to use a phrase that appears in this book, "THERE ARE IDIOTS. Look around."
Misbehaving is a great introductory to the behavioural model, laying out the case for an economic model that's driven by emotion and bias as much as it is by data and reason. It's also a semi-biography of Thaler's journey from cocky post-grad to respected economist and adviser to the Cameron-Clegg government, detailing all the arguments, dead ends and lucky breaks along the way.
It's hugely illuminating for non-economists, and a surprisingly funny book that made me laugh throughout. I've rarely laughed as deeply as I did at the chapter about the Univeristy of Chicago's economics department deciding how to allocate new offices.
Behavioural economics rejects this and instead points out that, to use a phrase that appears in this book, "THERE ARE IDIOTS. Look around."
Misbehaving is a great introductory to the behavioural model, laying out the case for an economic model that's driven by emotion and bias as much as it is by data and reason. It's also a semi-biography of Thaler's journey from cocky post-grad to respected economist and adviser to the Cameron-Clegg government, detailing all the arguments, dead ends and lucky breaks along the way.
It's hugely illuminating for non-economists, and a surprisingly funny book that made me laugh throughout. I've rarely laughed as deeply as I did at the chapter about the Univeristy of Chicago's economics department deciding how to allocate new offices.
tbauman's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book, but it occupies a weird ground between autobiography, history, and popular science book, and I'm not sure it totally works. A lot of good popular science books (like the classic "Thinking, Fast and Slow") have only a handful of strong ideas repeated frequently that you can easily remember after reading them. Thaler's work, to his credit, doesn't fit such a simple structure. The story of his life is amusing but not enthralling. There are a few interesting experiments about perception, but the main takeaway is that most of the assumptions of economics are wrong. If you're already interested in the topic, you'll learn some things and you might enjoy this book, but if you want to learn behavioral economics, you're better of looking elsewhere.
sunnny's review against another edition
Boek had de helft korter kunnen zijn als de auteur niet zo eindeloos had verteld over aan welke onderwijsinstelling hij nu weer lesgaf en welke superbekende collega's hij wel niet had. Maar verder prima boekie.
dayne's review against another edition
4.0
You will learn a lot about how you are being tricked into making bad decisions. A good read if you want to better understand why people make the choices they make. The author is annoyingly salty about how the cool kid traditional economists don't like him.
bethreadsandnaps's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed many of the studies he discusses, including the NFL draft, as well as the new office "draft" picks. Without knowing the people he speaks of, particularly those that died, I feel the book gets bogged down at times with the back stories. Usually I'm one who enjoys the personal side of things, but in this instance it seemed unnecessary.
The older I get, the more I agree with the author that people's behavior does not correspond with economic graphs. At the same time, much behavior is predictable. An interesting field of study!
The older I get, the more I agree with the author that people's behavior does not correspond with economic graphs. At the same time, much behavior is predictable. An interesting field of study!
realreads's review against another edition
3.0
I was not a fan of the chronological format & the personal parts of the book. I understand that this was like a professional memoir but the format just wasn't my cup of tea.
The behavior econ content is of course too notch!
The behavior econ content is of course too notch!
honzaf's review against another edition
4.0
TL;DR People are not hyper-efficient optimization machines who evaluate every situation fully and always select the correct most optimal solution. People are people: flawed, biased and with limited computing capacity, which drives them to use clever mental shortcuts to deal with whatever life throws at them. Sometimes these heuristics work great, sometimes they mislead us or we fall prey to our biases.
I picked up these ideas already before reading this book, from various magazine articles, radio shows, and other books (and personal experience, ahem), so I cannot say I would learn too much new. But reading the book gave me appreciation for how new these ideas much have been when they first started popping up and challenging the traditional "economic wisdom" and how much resistance they received. Plus the anecdotes are amusing and the book is written in a very light tone. Good read.
I picked up these ideas already before reading this book, from various magazine articles, radio shows, and other books (and personal experience, ahem), so I cannot say I would learn too much new. But reading the book gave me appreciation for how new these ideas much have been when they first started popping up and challenging the traditional "economic wisdom" and how much resistance they received. Plus the anecdotes are amusing and the book is written in a very light tone. Good read.