Behavioral Economics For Dummies - Altman, Morris

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Auteur(s) : Altman, Morris

Editeur : John Wiley & Sons

Langue : Anglais

Parution : 01/02/2012

Format : Moyen, de 350g à 1kg

Nombre de pages : 386.0

Expédition : 577

Dimensions : 24.3 x 19.2 x 2.3

ISBN : 1118085035

Résumé :

Introduction 1

Part I: Introducing Behavioral Economics: The Science of Making Real-World Choices 7

Chapter 1: Decoding Behavioral Economics 9
Chapter 2: Getting Real about Assumptions 19
Chapter 3: Neuroeconomics: Exploring the Brain for Economic Analysis 41
Chapter 4: Why Incentives and Markets Matter, but Money Isn't Everything 65

Part II: Understanding Choice 89

Chapter 5: Exploring the Limits to Free Choice 91
Chapter 6: Quick and Simple Heuristics and Real-World Decision Making 107
Chapter 7: How the Framing of Choices Affects Decision Making 131
Chapter 8: How Norms, Peers, History, and Culture Influence Choice 153
Chapter 9: Why Gender, Children, and Age Matter for Economic Analysis 167

Part III: Growing the Economic Pie: The Economic Importance of Ethics, Well-Being, and Culture 181

Chapter 10: Why Smart People Pay Taxes, Recycle, and Even Break the Law 183
Chapter 11: Labor Supply in the Real World 197
Chapter 12: The Black Box of the Firm: Human Relationships and Productivity 215
Chapter 13: The Good Economy: How Ethical Behavior Can Grow the Economy 229
Chapter 14: Why Institutions Matter 243

Part IV: When Bubbles and Busts and Inefficiencies Are Possible: Some Behavioral Insights into the Strange World of Economic Reality 257

Chapter 15: Deciphering Behavioral Finance 259
Chapter 16: Looking into Recessions and Depressions 275
Chapter 17: The Art and Science of Happiness: Can You Be Happy without More Money? 291

Part V: The Part of Tens 309

Chapter 18: Ten (Or So) Key Public Policy Implications of Behavioral Economics 311
Chapter 19: Ten (Or So) Experiments in Behavioral Economics 321
Chapter 20: Ten Decision-Making Lessons from Behavioral Economics 333

Index 341

...

Biographie:

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This Book 2

What You're Not to Read 2

Foolish Assumptions 3

How This Book isOrganized 3

Part I: Introducing Behavioral Economics: The Science of Making Real-World Choices 4

Part II: Understanding Choice 4

Part III: Growing the Economic Pie: The Economic Importance of Ethics, Well-Being, and Culture 4

Part IV: When Bubbles and Busts and Inefficiencies Are Possible: Some Behavioral Insights into the Strange World of Economic Reality 5

Part V: The Part of Tens 5

Icons Used in This Book 6

Where to Go from Here 6

Part I: Introducing Behavioral Economics: The Science of Making Real-World Choices 7

Chapter 1: Decoding Behavioral Economics 9

Making Wise Assumptions 9

Why reality matters 10

Why incentives matter - even in behavioral economics 10

Making Sense of Choice 11

Maximizing versus satisficing 11

The effect of emotions 12

The avoidance of loss 12

How options are framed 12

Paternalism versus free choice 13

The role of social context in decision making 14

Relative positioning 14

Growing the Economic Pie 15

Deciphering Bubbles and Busts 15

Inefficient markets and investment behavior 16

Emotions, intuition, animal spirits, and business cycles 16

Understanding Happiness: Money Isn't Everything 17

Chapter 2: Getting Real about Assumptions 19

Defining an Economic Model 20

Explaining economic phenomena 21

Making simplifying assumptions 21

Discovering the irrelevance of facts 22

Understanding the role of math in model building 23

Considering cause and effect 26

Watching out for spurious correlations 26

Contemplating Conventional Economic Assumptions and Real-World Alternatives 27

Conventional assumption #1: People's preferences are stable and consistent 27

Conventional assumption #2: People are solitary decision makers 28

Conventional assumption #3: How people form preferences doesn't matter 28

Conventional assumption #4: People have the same preferences 29

Conventional assumption #5: People are all maximizers 30

Conventional assumption #6: People have perfect knowledge 32

Conventional assumption #7: People have unbounded computational capabilities 33

Conventional assumption #8: People have willpower 34

Conventional assumption #9: People are capable of acting upon their preferences 35

Understanding Rational Economic Behavior 36

You can do no wrong: Errors and biases in decision making 37

Selfishness and the smart society 38

Getting to Know the Behavioral Economics Actor 39

Chapter 3: Neuroeconomics: Exploring the Brain for Economic Analysis 41

Where Neuroeconomics Fits in the Behavioral Economics

Perspective 43

The Brain and Economics 45

The evolution of the human brain 45

The division of labor in the human brain 48

The Emotional Brain 49

Descartes' error: The somatic marker hypothesis 49

Phineas Gage and the social and emotional side of rational decision making 50

How Emotions Affect Decision Making 53

Fear and decision making 53

Happiness and decision making 54

The Limits of the Human Brain and Homo Economicus 54

The brain isnot a calculating machine 55

The brain isa scarce resource 55

What Brain Sciences Confirm for the Behavioral Economist 57

People prefer the present to the future 57

People's aversion to loss affects their decision making 58

What people feel i...

Sommaire:
The guide to understanding why people really make economic and financial decisions

The field of behavioral economics sheds light on the many subtle and not-so-subtle factors that contribute to financial and purchasing choices. This friendly guide explores how socialand psychological factors, such as instinctual behavior patterns, social pressure, and mental framing, can dramatically affect our day-to-day decision making and financial choices. Based on psychology and sociology and rooted in real-world examples, Behavioral Economics For Dummies offers the sort of insights designed to help investors avoid impulsive mistakes, companies understand the mechanisms behind individual choices, and governments and nonprofits make public decisions.

• Make realistic assumptions for economic analysis - investigate the assumptions conventional economics makes, and discover how behavioral economists introduce social, psychological, and cultural considerations

• Explore the relationship between the brain and economics - understand how human behavior and surroundings affect economic phenomena

• Examine the role of free choice in economic decision making - review the conditions that are necessary in order for people to make choices that reflect their true preferences, given the constraints they face

• Get happy - recognize that factors other than wealth and money are critically important to a person's happiness, as defined by behavioral economics

Learn to:

• Understand how social and psychological factors affect our economic and financial decisions

• Grasp how governments and experts influence our choices

• Avoid making impulsive and uninformed decisions

• Appreciate why ethics are important to our choices

Open the book and find:

• The many subtle factors that contribute to our financial and purchasing choices

• Why people really make financial decisions

• Real-world examples of how behavioral economics affects our lives

• What social and psychological factors affect our decision making

• How to use behavioral economics to be happier

• Why government policies affect the economy

• Helpful consumer tips

Go to Dummies.com for videos, step-by-step examples, how-to articles, or to shop!