Behavioural Economics: Psychology, neuroscience, and the human side of economics

By David Orrell

The controversial science that claims to have revolutionised economics.

For centuries, economics was dominated by the idea that we are rational individuals who optimise our own 'utility'. Then, in the 1970s, psychologists demonstrated that the reality is a lot messier. We don't really know what our utility is, and we care about people other than ourselves. We are susceptible to external nudges. And far from being perfectly rational we are prone to 'cognitive biases' with complex effects on decision-making, such as forgetting to prepare for retirement.

David Orrell explores the findings from psychology and neuroscience that are shaking up economics - and that are being exploited by policy-makers and marketers alike, to shape everything from how we shop for food, to how we tackle societal happiness or climate change. Finally, he asks: is behavioural economics a scientific revolution, or just a scientific form of marketing?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Icon Books
• Release date: Jan 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781785786457

David Orrell

David Orrell is an applied mathematician and author of popular-science books. He studied mathematics at the University of Alberta and obtained his doctorate from Oxford University on the prediction of nonlinear systems. His book Apollo's Arrow: The Science of Prediction and the Future of Everything was a national bestseller and finalist for the 2007 Canadian Science Writers' Award, and his book Economyths: Ten Ways Economics Gets It Wrong was a finalist for the 2011 National Business Book Award.