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Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics

Page 44

by Richard H. Thaler

American Economic Association (AEA), 170, 173, 323, 347

  American Finance Association (AFA), 223–24, 240

  American Red Cross, 137

  Ames, Ruth, 145

  Andreoni, James, 145–46

  animal spirits, 209, 233, 242

  Animal Spirits (Akerlof and Shiller), 233

  “Anomalies” column, 170–75, 176, 195

  “anomaly mining,” 178

  anti-antipaternalism, 269, 323

  anti-gouging laws, 129, 137

  AOL, 245

  Apple, 135–36

  arbitrage, 237–38

  limits of, 249, 288, 349

  Palm and, 244–48, 246, 249, 250, 348

  Arkes, Hal, 67

  Arrow, Kenneth, 44, 181

  in behavioral economics debate, 159, 160–62

  financial economics work of, 208

  Ashenfelter, Orley, 68, 70, 257

  Asian disease problem, 159–60

  “as if” critique of behavioral economics, 44–47

  ATMs, 133–34

  automatic enrollment, 313–22, 318

  vs. negative election, 313

  automobile loans, 77, 78, 120–24

  discounted, 121–23, 363

  rebates in, 121–22

  Babcock, Linda, 184, 199–200

  Baltussen, Guido, 296, 300

  bank tellers, 133–34, 136

  Banz, Rolf, 221, 228

  Barberis, Nicholas, 206n, 353

  Bar-Hillel, Maya, 36, 194n

  quilt purchased by, 57, 59, 61, 65

  Barro, Robert, 96–97, 98

  baseball, 282

  base rates, 187

  Basu, Sanjoy, 221, 224, 225

  Baumol, William, 30, 178

  Beautiful Mind, A (Nasar), 212

  beauty contests (Keynesian), 210–11, 212, 214

  Becker, Gary, 277–78, 293–94

  Becker conjecture, 277–78, 293–94

  beer on the beach, 59–61

  “Behavioral Approach to Law and Economics, A” (Jolls, Sunstein, and Thaler), 258–59

  behavioral bureaucrats, 269

  Behavioral Economics Roundtable, 181, 183, 185

  behavioral life-cycle hypothesis, 98

  behavioral macroeconomics, 349–52

  Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), 11, 334, 336–45

  creation of, 10, 334

  mantras of, 337–38, 339

  Benartzi, Shlomo:

  equity premium puzzle studied by, 191, 192, 194–95, 198, 203, 217

  savings studied by, 313, 314, 317, 318, 321

  Berkeley, Calif., 181–82, 185

  Berlin Wall, 350n

  Bernheim, Douglas, 310

  Bernoulli, Daniel, 27–28, 30

  Bernoulli, Nicolas, 27

  beta (in beta–delta model), 110

  beta (risk measurement), 226–27, 228, 229, 348

  biases, 6, 23, 24, 25, 35, 46

  confirmation bias, 172, 355

  in financial markets, 203, 251n

  hindsight bias, 21–22, 190

  status quo bias, 154

  timid choices and bold forecasts, 186–87

  “big peanuts” hypothesis, 303, 341

  Binmore, Ken, 50

  “Binmore continuum,” 50–51

  Black, Fischer, 224, 240, 251, 252

  Black-Scholes option pricing model, 208, 224

  Blair, Tony, 333

  Blinder, Alan, 181

  blizzards, 20, 64–65, 128–29, 136, 137

  Blumer, Catherine, 67

  bonds, stocks vs., 191–92, 195–98, 196

  bounded rationality, 23–24, 29, 162, 258, 269

  bounded self-control, 269

  bounded self-interest, 258

  bounded willpower, 258

  break-even effect, 80–81, 83, 84

  British Airways, 212

  British Columbia, University of, 125–26, 140–43, 185

  Brown, E. Carey, 193, 194

  Brumberg, Richard, 95

  budgeting, 74–79

  Buffett, Warren, 134, 219

  Burke, Brian, 292

  Cabbage Patch Dolls, 129

  cabin, 106–7

  Cabinet Office, U.K., 343

  calendar effects, 174

  Camerer, Colin, 176–77, 181, 182, 183, 185

  effort project of, 199–201

  narrow framing work of, 185

  paternalism and, 323

  Cameron, David, 331–32, 333, 334

  Cameron, Lisa, 143

  Campbell, John, 234

  “Can the Market Add and Subtract?” (Lamont and Thaler), 250

  capital asset pricing model (CAPM), 226–29, 348

  “CAPM is Wanted, Dead or Alive, The” (Fama and French), 228

  Car Talk, 32

  Case, Chip, 235

  Case-Shiller Home Price Index, 235

  cashews, 21, 24, 42, 85–86, 92, 100, 102–3, 107n

  casinos, 49n

  cautious paternalism, 323

  Census Bureau, 47

  Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP), 208, 221

  charity, 66, 129

  cheap stocks, 219–21

  Checklist Manifesto, The (Gawande), 356

  Chen, Nai-fu, 243

  Chetty, Raj, 320, 357–58

  Chicago, University of, 255–56

  behavioral economics conference at, 159–64, 167–68, 169, 170, 205

  conference on 1987 crash at, 237

  debate on behavioral economics at, 159–63, 167–68, 169, 170, 205

  finance studied at, 208

  offices at, 270–76, 278

  Chicago Bulls, 19

  Chicago police department, 260

  chicken (game of), 183

  choice:

  number of, 21, 85, 99–103

  preferences revealed by, 86

  choice architecture, 276, 326–27, 357

  Choices, Values, and Frames, xiv

  Chrysler, 121, 123, 363

  Cialdini, Robert, 180, 335, 336

  Clegg, Nick, 333

  Clinton, Hillary, 22

  closed-end funds, 238–39, 239, 240

  puzzles of, 240–43, 244, 250

  coaches, 292–93

  Coase, Ronald, 261

  Coase theorem, 261–62, 264–65, 264, 267–68

  Cobb, David, 115

  Cobb, Michael, 115, 116, 117, 118n, 119, 120, 123

  Coca-Cola, 134–35

  cognitive dissonance, 178

  commitment strategies, 100, 102–3, 106–7

  compliance (medical), 189–90

  COMPUSTAT, 221

  computing power, 208

  concert tickets, 18–19, 66

  conditional cooperators, 146, 182, 335n

  “Conference Handbook, The” (Stigler), 162–63

  confirmation bias, 171–72

  Conservative Party, U.K., 330–33

  constrained optimization, 5–6, 8, 27, 43, 161, 207, 365

  “Consumer Choice: A Theory of Economists’ Behavior” (Thaler), 35

  consumers, optimization problem faced by, 5–6, 8, 27, 43, 161, 207, 365

  consumer sovereignty, 268–69

  consumer surplus, 59

  consumption function, 94–98, 106, 309

  “Contrarian Investment, Extrapolation, and Risk” (Lakonishok, Shleifer and Vishny), 228

  cooperation, 143–47

  conditional, 146, 182, 335n

  Prisoner’s Dilemma and, 143–44, 145, 301–5, 302

  Copernican revolution, 169

  Cornell University, 42, 43, 115, 140–43, 153–55, 157

  Costco, 63, 71–72

  Council of Economic Advisors, 352

  coupons, 62, 63, 67–68, 120

  credit cards, 18, 74, 76–77

  late fees for, 360

  crime, 265

  Daily Mail, 135

  Daily Show, The, 352

  Dallas Cowboys, 281

  data:

  financial, 208

 
collection and recording of, 355–56

  Dawes, Robyn, 146

  Deal or No Deal, 296–301, 297, 303

  path dependence on, 298–300

  deals, 61–62

  De Bondt, Werner, 216–18, 221, 222–24, 226n, 233, 278

  debt, 78

  default investment portfolio, 316

  default option, 313–16, 327

  default saving rate, 312, 316, 319, 357

  delayed gratification, 100–102

  De Long, Brad, 240

  Demos, 330

  Denmark, 320, 357–58

  descriptive, 25, 30, 45, 89

  Design of Everyday Things, The (Norman), 326

  Diamond, Doug, 273, 276

  Diamond, Peter, 323

  Dictator Game, 140–41, 142, 160, 182, 301

  diets, 342

  diminishing marginal utility, 106

  of wealth, 28, 30

  diminishing sensitivity, 30–34

  discount, surcharge vs., 18

  discounts, returns and, 242–43

  discounted utility model, 89–94, 99, 110, 362

  discretion, 106

  Ditka, Mike, 279, 280

  dividends, 164–67, 365

  present value of, 231–33, 231, 237

  Dodd, David, 219

  doers, planners vs., 104–9

  Donoghue, John, 265n

  “Do Stock Prices Move Too Much to be Justified by Subsequent Changes in Dividends?” (Shiller), 232–33

  Dow Jones Industrial Average, 220, 221

  Down, Nick, 334, 335, 336, 337

  Dreman, David, 221–22, 225, 227

  drug companies, 189–90

  “dumb principal” problem, 190–91, 291

  DuPont, 248

  eBay, 245

  economics, economic theory:

  core premises of, 5–6, 44, 48

  powerful reputation of, 5

  Economic and Social Research Council, 344

  “Economic Theory of Self-Control, An” (Thaler), 53

  “Economists Free Ride: Does Anyone Else?” (Marwell and Ames), 145

  Econs (homo economicus), 4–5, 6–7, 9, 23–24

  evolution of, 94–98

  poor people as, 58n

  sunk costs ignored by, 65

  transaction utility not experienced by, 61

  education, 27

  field experiments in, 353–54

  efficient market hypothesis (EMH), 159–63, 167–68, 348–49

  “cheap” stocks vs., 220–21

  closed-end fund shares price and, 239, 250

  coining of term, 205

  as descriptive model, 251

  Keynes’s disagreement with, 209–10

  and mean reversion, 222–23

  no-free-lunch principle of, 206, 207, 222, 225, 226n, 227, 230, 233–36, 234, 236, 251

  as normative benchmark, 250–51

  overreaction vs., 222–24, 225–29

  prices as “right” in, 206, 222, 230–33, 231, 237, 251–52

  and splitting off of Palm, 245–48, 249, 250, 348

  effort project, 199–201

  Einhorn, Hillel, 162

  El Bulli, 138–39

  Elster, Jon, 178, 181

  employment contracts, as gift exchange, 182

  Endemol, 296, 301

  endowment effect, 12–19, 57, 149–55, 261

  fairness related to, 131

  instant, 154

  and losses, 58–59

  lottery tickets and, 148–49

  as “transaction cost,” 266

  Energy and Climate Change Department, U.K., 338

  energy bars, 106–7

  entrepreneurs, 351–52

  epicycles, 170

  equilibrium, 44, 131, 150, 207

  equity premium puzzle, 191–98, 196, 203, 217

  Erasmus University, 296

  error term, 23–24

  escalation of commitment, 65

  “Ethics of Nudging, The” (Sunstein), 337n

  everyday low pricing, 62

  evidence-based:

  economics, 348, 353, 355

  models of consumer behavior, 351

  policy, 338

  evolution, 261

  exams, based on scores of 137, 3–4, 6, 7

  expected utility theory, 29, 295, 353

  prospect theory vs., 29, 298

  experimental economics, 40–41, 182

  bubbles created in, 40n, 206n

  with drug compliance, 190

  in education, 353–54

  for endowment effect, 148–55

  on equity premium puzzle, 195–98, 196, 217

  learning in, 153

  experiments:

  naturally occurring, 8

  randomized control trial, 8, 338–41, 371

  exponential discounting, 91–94, 99

  fairness, 119, 127–39, 149, 182

  endowment effect related to, 131

  in games, 140–47, 160, 182–83

  gouging and, 127–29, 137–39

  fake prices, 62–63

  false consensus effect, and NFL draft, 280

  Fama, Eugene, 159, 167, 177, 208, 221, 348

  background of, 205–6

  on crash of 1987, 237

  “efficient market hypothesis” studied and defended by, 27–29, 205, 208, 237, 250

  on risk measurement, 225

  and Thaler’s hiring at University of Chicago, 256

  on value stocks, 227–29

  Fama-French Three Factor Model, 228

  Farnsworth, Ward, 268

  Faulkner, William, 72

  Federal Reserve Board, 234

  Fehr, Ernst, 146, 181–82, 183

  fertilizer, 8

  Festinger, Leon, 178

  Fidelity, 313

  field of decision-making, 179n–80n

  financial bubbles, 7, 9

  and efficient market hypothesis, 206

  in experiments, 40n, 206n

  financial markets:

  behavioral economics and, 203–4, 205, 209–53, 349–50

  high trading volume in, 217–18

  invisible handwave critique and, 209

  overreaction in, 219–20, 222–24, 225–29

  Financial Times, 212–14, 213

  firm(s):

  and consumer biases, 360

  fairness and, 132–33

  large vs. small, 221, 228, 242, 243

  theory of, 27, 30, 44–45, 52–53

  First Chicago, 133–34, 136

  Fischhoff, Baruch, 21–22, 25, 36

  Fisher, Irving, 88–89, 95

  Fisher, Scott, 356–57

  five-factor model, 229

  football, see National Football League

  Ford, 121, 123

  forecasts, 233–36

  in NFL draft, 280

  rational, 230–31

  “Foundations of Economic Analysis” (Samuelson), 89

  Foundations of Human Society, The (McIntosh), 103

  401(k) plans, 77, 195, 311, 312, 315

  framing, 18

  narrow framing, 185–91

  of teacher bonuses, 354

  Frank, Bob, 97

  Frank (game show contestant), 299, 300, 303

  free riders, 145–47

  French, Kenneth, 227–29

  Freud, Sigmund, 103, 181

  Friedman, Milton, 45–46, 51

  consumption function of, 94, 95, 96, 309

  Fryer, Roland, 353–54

  Fuchs, Victor, 35

  Fuller and Thaler Asset Management, 251n

  fungibility:

  of money, 74, 76, 82, 109, 164, 320, 353

  of wealth, 98, 193n

  gambling, 80–84

  Samuelson rationality of repeat, 192–95, 197

  game shows, 11, 34

  Deal or No Deal, 296–301, 297, 303

  Golden Balls, 301–5, 302

  game theory, 104–5, 176–77

  Keynes’s beauty contest and, 210–11, 212, 214

 
; and number game, 211–14, 213

  Prisoner’s Dilemma, 143–44, 145, 301–5, 302

  gasoline prices, 75–76, 79

  Gauntlet, 43–53, 163

  Gawande, Atul, 356

  generalized overreaction, 223–24

  General Motors, 52–53, 120–24, 248, 363

  General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, The (Keynes), 94–95, 209

  Ghana, 342

  gift exchange, employment contracts as, 182

  gifts, 6, 20–21

  Gilovich, Tom, 97n

  Ginzel, Linda, 356

  Glaeser, Edward, 372

  global financial crisis, 7, 53, 76, 350

  central banks’ fighting of, 253

  economists’ failure to foresee, 4–5

  Golden Balls, 301–5, 302

  Goldstein, Daniel, 327–28

  Google, 170

  Goolsbee, Austan, 352

  gouging, 127–29, 137–39

  Gourville, John, 66–67

  grade point average (GPA), 218–19, 219, 223

  Graham, Benjamin:

  closed-end funds criticized by, 241

  discounts recommended by, 242

  DuPont/GM investments of, 248

  profitability in firms sought by, 229

  value investing pioneered by, 219–20, 221, 225, 227

  Great Depression, 165

  Greek Peak, 115–20, 123

  Green, Bill, 82n

  Greenspan, Alan, 234

  mistakes admitted by, 9

  Grether, David, 48, 49

  Griffen, Robert, III, 289

  Griffen (African gray parrot), 102n

  Groucho Marx theorem, 217

  Groundhog Day (film), 49–50

  growth managers, growth stocks, 214–15, 222, 227, 228

  Guardian, 135

  Güth, Werner, 141

  gym memberships, 66–67, 360

  habits, theory based on, 161

  Hall, Rob, 356–57

  Hallsworth, Michael, 336

  Halpern, David, 333, 334

  Hastings, Justine, 75–76, 357

  health care, 329n

  health care, as right, 130

  Heath, Chip, 75, 184

  Heath, Dan, 184

  Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), 334–35, 337n

  heuristics, 22–23, 25, 35, 46

  Heywood, Jeremy, 332

  Hicks, John, 44

  Hilton, Steve, 331, 332–34

  hindsight bias, 21–22, 190

  Hogarth, Robin, 159, 162

  Home Depot, 133

  home equity, 77–79

  Homer, 99–100

  homo economicus, see Econs

  Hong Kong, 232

  horse racing, 80–81, 174–75

  hot-cold empathy gaps, 111

  hotels, 138, 360

  house money effect, 81–82, 83–84, 193n, 296

  House of Debt (Mian and Sufi), 78

  housing bubble, 7, 78, 83–84, 252

  housing prices, 235–36, 236

  Houston, Whitney, 135–36

  Huizinga, John, 271–73, 274, 275

  human capital, theory of, 27

  Humans vs. Econs, see also Econs

  hyperbolic discounting, see present bias (hyperbolic discounting)

  hypothetical questions, 38–39, 82

 

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