Is Human Behavior Inconsistent with Economic Theory and Misbehaving? Comment on Chapter 3 of Richard H. Thaler’s Book, Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics ()
ABSTRACT
Nobel Laureate Richard H. Thaler published the book, Misbehaving: The Making of
Behavioral Economics, in 2015. In it, he discusses how human
misbehavior and the impacts of misbehaviors on markets have been incorrectly
calculated. After reading his book, and especially chapter 3, “The List”, I
found that the five examples included in chapter 3 might not appropriately be
used to explain human behavior’s effect on economic theory and human misbehavior.
These examples may mislead readers and make readers believe that human behavior
is inconsistent with economic theory and human misbehavior. Here, I provide
different views and analyses using fundamental economic theory—the theory of cost-benefit analysis—to clarify my argument that people’s behavior (as listed in Thaler’s
chapter 3) is not inconsistent with economic theory and not examples of
misbehavior.
Share and Cite:
Lin, T. (2022) Is Human Behavior Inconsistent with Economic Theory and Misbehaving? Comment on Chapter 3 of Richard H. Thaler’s Book,
Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics.
Theoretical Economics Letters,
12, 963-971. doi:
10.4236/tel.2022.124052.
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