4 Ways Nobel Prize Winner Richard Thaler 's Work Has Improved Your Life
Richard Thaler
When I interviewed  Richard Thaler  a few years ago for a Forbes magazine piece  I was confident enough to tell  him   he  "was going to get a call from Stockholm."
Over more than three decades   Thaler   along with a group of "behavioral economists " have merged psychology with decision making theory  economics and sociology to create an important  maturing field that is changing the way we see the world.
In short   Thaler  and  his  cadre have done a scientific take on what Keynes called "animal spirits" and given us some essential insights on how we think when it comes to money and everyday decisions.
Since I saw  Thaler  speak scarcely a month ago at the Morningstar ETF conference   his  words and observations are fresh in my mind. Here's why  he 's one of the most important economic researchers of our time:
-- Nudges are More Important Than Nagging. In  his  bestseller Nudge  Thaler and co-author Cass Sunstein explored how we can achieve better outcomes in financial behavior.
-- Make it Simple.  Thaler  discovered a long time ago that the way in which we're forced to make financial decisions is way too complicated. Why not boil down decisions?
 Thaler 's work has focused on improving "choice architecture." The way in which we are offered choices makes a difference.
In this regard   Thaler  and  his  colleagues have been consistently turning classical economics upside down. While we'd all like to think like Star Trek's logical Mr. Spock  we mostly act impulsively like the Romulans.
When I interviewed  [TGT]a few years ago for a Forbes magazine piece  I was confident enough to tell  [TGT]   [TGT]  "was going to get a call from Stockholm."
Over more than three decades   Thaler   along with a group of "behavioral economists " have merged psychology with decision making theory  economics and sociology to create an important  maturing field that is changing the way we see the world.
In short   Thaler  and  his  cadre have done a scientific take on what Keynes called "animal spirits" and given us some essential insights on how we think when it comes to money and everyday decisions.
Since I saw  [TGT]speak scarcely a month ago at the Morningstar ETF conference   [TGT]  words and observations are fresh in my mind. Here's why  [TGT] 's one of the most important economic researchers of our time:
-- Nudges are More Important Than Nagging. In  his  bestseller Nudge  Thaler and co-author Cass Sunstein explored how we can achieve better outcomes in financial behavior.
-- Make it Simple.  [TGT]  discovered a long time ago that the way in which we're forced to make financial decisions is way too complicated. Why not boil down decisions?
 [TGT] 's work has focused on improving "choice architecture." The way in which we are offered choices makes a difference.
In this regard   Thaler  and  his  colleagues have been consistently turning classical economics upside down. While we'd all like to think like Star Trek's logical Mr. Spock  we mostly act impulsively like the Romulans.