The Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2010, was awarded to Peter A. Diamond of the MIT, Dale T. Mortensen of Northwestern University and Christopher A. Pissarides of the London School of Economics for their analysis of markets with search frictions, according to the Nobel committee. Though the theories are useful for many markets where interactions are more complicated than matching buyers and sellers, including housing and monetary theory, the committee cited its application to the labor market as a key contribution.
Oct 08
Chi sarà il Premio Nobel 2010 per l’economia? Probabilmente Richard Thaler.
Chi sarà il Premio Nobel 2010 per l’economia? Auspicabilmente il vincitore del Nobel per l’economia quest’anno sarà Richard Thaler. Questa è la sua biografia:
Richard H. Thaler è un economista americano specializzato in Finanza Comportamentale e Psicologia dei processi decisionali, discipline che colmano il divario tra economia e psicologia. Thaler indaga le implicazioni legate alla messa in dscussione dell’ipotesi, standard in economia, che gli agenti economici sono razionali ed egoisti.
Thaler, con il co-autore Shlomo Benartzi di UCLA, ha vinto l’Award 2005 A. Paul Samuelson per l’eccellente scrittura accademica nella formazione. Thaler ha scritto diversi libri destinati a un lettore profano in materia di finanza comportamentale, tra cui Quasi-rational Economics and The Winner’s Curse, il secondo dei quali contiene molti dei suoi articoli accademici riveduti ed adattati per un pubblico non esperto in Economia.
Recentemente Thaler è coautore, con Cass R. Sunstein, di Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Yale University Press, 2008). Nudge illustra come le organizzazioni pubbliche e private possono aiutare le persone a fare scelte migliori nella loro vita quotidiana. “Le persone spesso fanno scelte sbagliate – Facciamo questo perché in quanto esseri umani, siamo tutti sensibili a una vasta gamma di distorsioni cognitive che possono portare ad una serie di errori imbarazzanti in materia di istruzione, finanza personale, assistenza sanitaria, mutui e carte di credito, la felicità, e anche il pianeta stesso.
Il suo lavoro gli ha procurato un certo numero di progetti di ricerca, compresi quelli del Dipartimento della Marina degli Stati Uniti, l’Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, e la National Science Foundation. Thaler è membro dell’Accademia Americana delle Arti e direttore (con Robert Shiller) del progetto NBER di economia comportamentale.
Thaler ha lavorato come economista per il Centro di Analisi Navale di Arlington. In seguito ha tenuto corsi alla Cornell, alla British Columbia, alla Sloan School of Management del MIT, e al Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences per poi continuare ad insegnare Economia nella facoltà dell’Università di Chicago nel 1995.
Oct 08
Richard Thaler, Nobel Prize for Economics 2010, just a prediction?
Who will win the Nobel Prize in economics this year? Probably Richard Thaler will be the Nobel Prize for Economics 2010.
Richard H. Thaler studies behavioral economics and finance as well as the psychology of decision-making which lies in the gap between economics and psychology. He investigates the implications of relaxing the standard economic assumption that everyone in the economy is rational and selfish, instead entertaining the possibility that some of the agents in the economy are sometimes human.
Thaler, with co-author Shlomo Benartzi of UCLA, won the 2005 Paul A. Samuelson Award for outstanding scholarly writing on lifelong financial security for “Save More Tomorrow: Using Behavioral Economics to Increase Employee Savings.
Thaler has written a number of books intended for a lay reader on the subject of behavioral finance, including Quasi-rational Economics and The Winner’s Curse, the latter of which contains many of his Anomalies columns revised and adapted for a popular audience.
Most recently Thaler is coauthor, with Cass R. Sunstein, of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness (Yale University Press, 2008). Nudge discusses how public and private organizations can help people make better choices in their daily lives. “People often make poor choices – and look back at them with bafflement!” Thaler and Sunstein write. “We do this because as human beings, we all are susceptible to a wide array of routine biases that can lead to an equally wide array of embarrassing blunders in education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards, happiness, and even the planet itself.” Thaler and his co-author coined the term choice architect.
His work has earned him a number of research grants, including ones from the U.S. Department of the Navy, the Alfred P. Sloan foundation, and the National Science Foundation.
Thaler is a member of the American Academy of Arts and and the co-director (with Robert Shiller) of the NBER project on behavioral economics.
Thaler worked as a research economist for the Center of Naval Analyses in Arlington. He went on to teach courses at Cornell, The University of British Columbia, the Sloan School of Management at MIT, and the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences before joining The University of Chicago faculty in 1995.
Oct 02
Overcoming Temptations
Many purchase and consumption decisions involve an intrapersonal struggle between consumers’ righteous, prudent side and their indulgent, pleasure-seeking side. Whereas purchasing and consuming utilitarian necessities and virtues (e.g., a practical car, a healthful food item) is considered responsible and farsighted, yielding to hedonic temptations (e.g., buying a luxurious car, eating a chocolate cake) is viewed as impulsive and wasteful. The perceived precedence of virtue and necessity over vice and luxury is at least as old as ancient Greek civilization (Plato and Aristotle argue that reason should rule appetitive and passionate elements). Similarly, consumer self-control research emphasizes the importance of exercising willpower and controlling desires. Much of this research has been premised on the notion that consumption and purchase of vices generate regret. According to this perspective, consumers are better off in the long run if they choose virtue over vice, work over leisure, and utilitarian necessities over hedonic luxuries.
Recent research challenges this approach and suggests that consumers often suffer from a reverse self-control problem—namely, excessive farsightedness and overcontrol, or “hyperopia.” Hyperopic consumers overemphasize virtue and necessity at the expense of indulgence and luxury. It has been suggested that consumers who recognize their tendency to avoid temptations and focus on doing “the right thing” precommit to indulgences to ensure that the goal of having more fun and luxury is realized. Furthermore, researchers have demonstrated that though in the short run it appears preferable to act responsibly and choose virtue over vice, over time such righteous behavior generates increasing regret. It has been argued that the passage of time attenuates regret about choosing vice and accentuates regret about choosing virtue because of the decay of indulgence guilt and the intensification of feelings of missing out on the pleasures of life.