How economists think differently from other humans

[Gustaf]

It's a bit dishonest. Firstly, behavioural economics is not a one-man crusade it's a large field in economics.

Secondly, no economist ever believed everyone was a perfectly rational machine or whatever. The question, which is still an open one, is to what extent these individual idiosyncracies must be taken into account in order for aggregate predictions to work.

[Gustaf]

It's a bit dishonest. Firstly, behavioural economics is not a one-man crusade it's a large field in economics.

Secondly, no economist ever believed everyone was a perfectly rational machine or whatever. The question, which is still an open one, is to what extent these individual idiosyncracies must be taken into account in order for aggregate predictions to work.

1.Richard Thaler said exactly that.  They said he founded the field, not that he's the only person in it.

2.There were all sorts of economic theory that came out of the 'rational person' hypothesis though that behavioral economists are showing don't stand up to scrutiny. This piece mentions a couple of them, especially the 'sunk cost' one.

I'm doing a PhD mostly about behavioural econ - I'm well aware.

My point is that there is a difference between the behavioural lab experiments and transferring that to aggregate macro variables.

And as AG points out I think Thaler's importance is being a bit inflated in this video.

[Gustaf]

It's a bit dishonest. Firstly, behavioural economics is not a one-man crusade it's a large field in economics.

Secondly, no economist ever believed everyone was a perfectly rational machine or whatever. The question, which is still an open one, is to what extent these individual idiosyncracies must be taken into account in order for aggregate predictions to work.

1.Richard Thaler said exactly that.  They said he founded the field, not that he's the only person in it.

2.There were all sorts of economic theory that came out of the 'rational person' hypothesis though that behavioral economists are showing don't stand up to scrutiny. This piece mentions a couple of them, especially the 'sunk cost' one.

I'm doing a PhD mostly about behavioural econ - I'm well aware.

Here may go our anonymity Our profession is far too small a town for this to be preserved on any forum less inane than the econjobrumors  

Still, just out of curiosity, are you doing it in Europe or in the US?

Haha, I've stayed away from that one, because every time a friend referenced it, it sounded awful.

I'm in Europe, not the US.