The Economist (April 27, 2013)
Economics has long been defined by choices made by rational beings. These mythical creatures, however, account for many of the field’s shortcomings. “Economics should draw much more heavily on fields such as psychology, neuroscience and anthropology.” Economists should “accept that evidence from other disciplines does not just explain those bits of behaviour that do not fit the standard models. Rather, what economists consider anomalous is the norm.”
Tags: Anomalies, Anthropology, Choices, Economics, Neuroscience, Norms, Psychology, Rational, Standard models
Time (May 26)
Most of us are irrationally optimistic. “Neuroscience and social science suggest that we are more optimistic than realistic,” which is both good and bad. “Overly positive assumptions can lead to disastrous miscalculations….But the bias also protects and inspires us: it keeps us moving forward…. Without optimism, our ancestors might never have ventured far from their tribes and we might all be cave dwellers, still huddled together and dreaming of light and heat.”
Tags: Assumptions, Bias, Miscalculations, Neuroscience, Optimism
