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Full summary of Misbehaving

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  • May 6, 2021
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  • 2020/2021
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MISBEHAVING Richard H. Thaler
an certifiably lazy man - a teacher in microeconomic

CHAPTER I THE BEGINNINGS: 1970-1978

1. SUPPOSELDLY IRRELEVANT FACTORS
pag 4

"misbehaving"

 Thaler gave exams which were designed to distinguish among three broad groups of
students. Only the really smart ones were capable of answering the difficult questions -
consequence the students hated his exam
 the behavior of the students was inconsistent with the idealised model of behavior (the
heart of the economic theory)
 they were happier to get a mean score of 96 out of 137 (70%) than 72 out of 100
he simply changed the maximum score
o why 137?
 hard to calculate the percentages
 avarage score is around the 90 percent

econs: theory of economics replaced the homo sapiens with the homo economicus

 fictional creature
 homo economicus is someone who does not misbehave
 reality homo sapiens which means economic models make bad predictions


pag 5-6

economics = most powerful social science

 virtual monopoly on giving policy advices
 economics has a unified, core theory from which nearly everything else follows


economics = nature fysics

core theory

 they have a few core permissen (=that something is true)
 rational people - so we can make rational expectations
o constrained optimization: choosing the best option
o equilibrium: continuously search of balance
optimization + equilibrium (evenwicht) = economics
 PROBLEMS:
1. optimization problems are somethimes hard to solve
2. beliefs on which people make their choses = not unbaised
people have feelings/preferences
3. the optimization model leaves many factors out
o example of buying food when your hungry - not relevant for your meal on Tuesday *
*best gift for an econ: money - they can buy whatever is optimal

1

,pag 7

stop making excuses

 need an enriched approach which acknowledges the existence and relevance of Humans
 but do not need to throw everything away
can use it as a starting point

pag 8

two research tools

 randomized control trial experiments: it studies what happens when some people receive
some treatment of interest
 naturally occuring experiments


pag 9

 stop assuming that models give an accurate description of behavior and stop basing policy
decisions on flawed analyses
 start paying attention to supposedly irrelevant factors SIF*


behavioral economics: people are not rational

 reasons for adding Humans to economic consequence improve the accuracy of predictions
 they name it the un-dismal (triestige) science but it is actually fun


2. THE ENDOWMENT EFFECT
pag 12-13

Shellings experiment: a girl who needs money to get an operation - the hospitals who need money

 identified life: sick girl
 statistical life: the hospitals - lack of emotional impact
econ won't pay more for the identified life then the statistical life


Zeckhausers experiment: russian roulette whit a gun

pag 14

thesis Thaler: "The value of a life" pre-article: The value of saving a life:

 compared the salary/paychecks of jobs whith the mortality rates of each occupation
 in a world of econs, the riskier jobs would have to pay more, otherwise no one would do
them
 PROBLEM is that it’ not easy to put a number on a life
  his cost-benifit analyse is still used by the gouvernement




2

,asked two questions

 willingness to pay: woh much someone would pay to deruce the chance of dead
 willingness to accept: woh much someone would pay to increace his chance of dead
 example deadly disease
o A disease with antidote, how much would you pay
o B disease without antidote, how much would you demand
 people will aske more in situation B
 should be the same for an econ


pag 17

case Richard Rosett

example: wine from 10 dollars who now is worth 100 dollars

 he would not sell his bottle for 100 dollars
 he would not buy a bottle for 100 dollars
 but he would drink one of his 10 dollars bottles who now is worth 100 dollar
opportunity cost = what you give up by doing it
vague <> cash: precise

pag 18 tom russell

example beginning of credit cards

 discussion if retailers could charge different prices to cash between credit card and cash
 credit card lobby said if a store dit charge different prices
o the regular price = higer credit card
OR
o a surcharge for the credit card users (toeslag)
 for an econ these two are the same BUT credit card lobby chosed the first one,
they like the idea of a discount
 framing, (depending on the persective you have, you get a discount sounds
better)
= endownment effect: the idea and belief that something becomes much more worth ones you
possess it  influence on behaviour


pag 19

example tickets to a basketball game

 A: sold the tickets
 B: did go to the game

3. THE LIST
pag 21

sunk costs: money that has already been spent and would go lost

 for an econ are more options always better




3

, hindsight bias (thesis) fiscchoff

 conclusion of the thesis: we always think that we knew the outcome of something and if not
a foregone conclusion
 example of project that works out badly= the CEO always thinks that the failure could be
anticipated
 =illusion: we don’t see things coming, we misremember it.

pag 23-24

predictable errors

 Humans have limited time and brainpower and therefore use heuristics to help them make
judgements
 PROBLEM lack the cognitive ability to solve complex problems = bounded rationality*
 SOLUTION in classic economic theory by putting some error ranges
o but ranges actually don’t even out the errors because the errors could be named as
predictable errors. The errors named in the theory were actually the biased ways of
handling of people and therefore can’t be evened out but leans more to one side or
another. As economic theory says that external events don’t influence the decisions
isn’t correct. These external events were seen as SIF’s, but were really highly
important in decision making. These SIF’s (external events) influence decisions
because people base it on their bias.

4. VALUE THEORY
pag 25-26

organizing principle:

1. normative theories: theories tell you the right way to think about something, logically
2. descriptive theories
 PROBLEM classic economic theory use one theory for both 1 and 2
example guess the height of 2 bars
 prospect theory sought to break from this traditional idea

pag 28-30

risk aversion (Bernouilli)

 happiness (utility) grows but at a decreasing rate = diminishing sensitivity
 example: 100 dollars to a rich or a poor guy ≠ different influence on his utility

expected utility theory (Neuman)

 a series of axioms of rational choice + he derived how someone wanted to follow these
axioms
 if people make a important decision they depend on the expected utility

prospect theory (Kahneman and Tversky)

 alternative to the expected utility theory
 people are not rational = bounded rationality*
 the focus changed from levels of wealth to changes in wealth
 example of the temperature

4

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