Misbehaving by Richard Thaler

Misbehaving is Richard Thaler’s take on the world of Behavioural Economics. This field is fascinating, not least of all because it explains some anomalies in the financial world (which should be true if all assumptions were held, and all humans acted rationally). We all know that the basic premise isn’t true, but it is interesting to work out why. Being a self-confessed lazy person, Richard summarises all the main theories that have been prevalent in this field – from the “endowment effect”, “loss aversion”, “framing” to “anchoring”, “quasi-hyperbolic discounting” and “mental accounting”. Being one who doesn’t study this full-time, but only occasionally enough to need a refresher, I found his examples memorable, well-told, easy to follow and therefore helpful in my understanding and recall of the “theories”.

I listened to the Audible version of this book, and found myself laughing aloud, and enjoying every minute. It doesn’t labour the points, keeps it simple and relatable and uses the conflict between the traditional economists and the misbehaving world, explained by psychology, to keep us entertained.

It is an accessible and enlightening quick read.

4 out of 5 stars

ISBN: 9780393080940

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