Synopses & Reviews
Richard Thaler challenges the received economic wisdom by revealing many of the paradoxes that abound even in the most painstakingly constructed transactions. He presents literate, challenging, and often funny examples of such anomalies as why the winners at auctions are often the real losers--they pay too much and suffer the "winner's curse"--why gamblers bet on long shots at the end of a losing day, why shoppers will save on one appliance only to pass up the identical savings on another, and why sports fans who wouldn't pay more than $200 for a Super Bowl ticket wouldn't sell one they own for less than $400. He also demonstrates that markets do not always operate with the traplike efficiency we impute to them.
An ebook edition is available from The Free Press at leading on-line booksellers.
Review
"By unraveling a series of real-world puzzles with philosophical and practical implications, Thaler illuminates some fairly abstruse ideas in an entertaining way.... The best minds in economics today, as Thaler's provocative book suggests, are trying to supplement [insights into markets and prices] with a broader understanding of what makes people tick."--Christopher Farrell, Business Week
Review
"Richard Thaler ... stylishly recounts empirical findings that skewer hitherto sheltered economic beliefs."--Lola L. Lopes, Contemporary Psychology
Review
By unraveling a series of real-world puzzles with philosophical and practical implications, Thaler illuminates some fairly abstruse ideas in an entertaining way.... The best minds in economics today, as Thaler's provocative book suggests, are trying to supplement [insights into markets and prices] with a broader understanding of what makes people tick. Christopher Farrell
Review
Richard Thaler ... stylishly recounts empirical findings that skewer hitherto sheltered economic beliefs. Business Week
Synopsis
Richard Thaler challenges the received economic wisdom by revealing many of the paradoxes that abound even in the most painstakingly constructed transactions. He presents literate, challenging, and often funny examples of such anomalies as why the winners at auctions are often the real losers--they pay too much and suffer the "winner's curse"--why gamblers bet on long shots at the end of a losing day, why shoppers will save on one appliance only to pass up the identical savings on another, and why sports fans who wouldn't pay more than $200 for a Super Bowl ticket wouldn't sell one they own for less than $400. He also demonstrates that markets do not always operate with the traplike efficiency we impute to them.
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgments | |
1 | Introduction | 1 |
2 | Cooperation | 6 |
3 | The Ultimatum Game | 21 |
4 | Interindustry Wage Differentials | 36 |
5 | The Winner's Curse | 50 |
6 | The Endowment Effect, Loss Aversion, and Status Quo Bias | 63 |
7 | Preference Reversals | 79 |
8 | Intertemporal Choice | 92 |
9 | Savings, Fungibility, and Mental Accounts | 107 |
10 | Pari-mutuel Betting Markets | 122 |
11 | Calendar Effects in the Stock Market | 139 |
12 | A Mean Reverting Walk Down Wall Street | 151 |
13 | Closed-End Mutual Funds | 168 |
14 | Foreign Exchange | 182 |
15 | Epilogue | 197 |
| References | 199 |
| Index | 225 |