The Rise of Behavioral Economics and Its Influence on Organizations
October 10, 2017
Summary.
Richard Thaler, the University of Chicago professor who just won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, inspired scholars across different disciplines and fundamentally changed the way we think about human behavior. He is considered the father of behavioral economics — a new field that combines insights from psychology, judgment and decision making, and economics to generate a more accurate understanding of human behavior. Among his many achievements, Thaler inspired the creation of behavioral science teams, often call “nudge units,” in public and private organizations around the globe. Together with Cass Sunstein, he wrote a book in 2008 called Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness, which suggests that there are many opportunities to “nudge” people’s behavior by making subtle changes to the context in which they make decisions. Nudges can solve all sorts of problems governments and businesses alike consider important.Richard Thaler, the University of Chicago professor who just won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, has inspired scholars across different disciplines and fundamentally changed the way we think about human behavior. He is considered the father of behavioral economics — a relatively new field that combines insights from psychology, judgment, and decision making, and economics to generate a more accurate understanding of human behavior.