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Richard Thaler shares his approach to writing his new book, which includes providing concise takeaways for both economists and general readers. He emphasizes the value of making complex economic concepts accessible and engaging.
Richard Thaler highlights the ethical considerations of nudges, noting that while they can be used to help people make better decisions, they can also be exploited for profit, as seen in the design of casinos and online gambling platforms.
Richard Thaler highlights a clever experiment by Katie Milkman called 'temptation bundling,' where people are motivated to exercise by allowing themselves to listen to a favorite audiobook only while working out.
Richard Thaler shares an example of a nudge used on Lakeshore Drive, where lines are painted on the road to instinctively make drivers slow down around bends. This simple intervention helps prevent accidents by leveraging human instincts.
Richard Thaler highlights the concept of 'mental accounting,' where people irrationally categorize money, affecting their financial decisions. This concept is widely applicable and often leads to irrational spending behaviors.
Richard Thaler discusses the resistance he faced in academia when introducing behavioral economics. He recalls a time when he presented his theories on saving behavior to a psychology department, and the audience laughed because they found the traditional economic models unrealistic. Thaler points out that economists believed people behaved like expert billiards players, acting as if they knew physics, which he found absurd.
Richard Thaler shares a story about how people are more likely to attend an event if they've paid for it, even if circumstances change. He notes that people will go to great lengths to honor a financial commitment, illustrating the power of sunk costs.
Richard Thaler and Danny Kahneman explored fairness in economics by asking if it's fair for a hardware store to raise snow shovel prices after a blizzard. Most people said no, except business school students, who believed it was justified based on microeconomic principles.
Richard Thaler discusses his project of revisiting and updating his 1992 book on economic anomalies. He highlights the importance of verifying whether the foundational experiments still hold true today, both in theory and in real-world applications.
The podcast 'Nudge' by Phil Agnew focuses on small changes and new habits that can make a significant difference in marketing and sales.