Nobel Perspectives & Economic Views

Every January a few things are true. Gyms see an influx of new memberships, financial goals are set, and resolutions for an overall healthier and wealthier year ahead are made. But by the end of the month, much of that momentum for many has started to fade. There’s psychology behind this – both our desire to set these goals and our inability to see them through – which is why Richard Thaler, a behavioral economist and co-author of a New York Times bestselling book on the topic, is just the person to speak to about this.

When it was announced that Thaler had been awarded the Nobel Prize, it was met with some controversy. While some economists enthusiastically accept the introduction of psychology into the field, others are still vocally skeptical about merging the two. This has been a battle that Thaler has been fighting his whole career, tracing back to a column he wrote in the 1980s. Appearing in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, published by the American Economic Association (AEA), Thaler called the column “Anomalies”, a tongue-in-cheek name and nod to his overall approach.