Richard H. Thaler Quotes

#1. On traditional economic theory:
We do not play chess as if we were a grandmaster, invest as if we were Warren Buffett, or cook like an Iron Chef. It is more likely we cook like Warren Buffett, who loves to eat at Dairy Queen.

Richard H. Thaler

#2. As I have learned over the years, and will discuss further in subsequent chapters, the reluctance to experiment, test, evaluate, and learn that I experienced at General Motors is all too common.

Richard H. Thaler

#3. individual risk taking, especially in the domain of risks to life and health.

Richard H. Thaler

#4. An especially good way to gain weight is to have dinner with other people.11 On average, those who eat with one other person eat about 35 percent more than they do when they are alone; members of a group of four eat about 75 percent more; those in groups of seven or more eat 96 percent more.*

Richard H. Thaler

#5. So, we experience life in terms of changes, we feel diminishing sensitivity to both gains and losses, and losses sting more than equivalently-sized gains feel good.

Richard H. Thaler

#6. average article written in a specialized academic journal is probably lucky to find 100 readers.

Richard H. Thaler

#7. By properly deploying both incentives and nudges, we can improve our ability to improve people's lives, and help solve many of society's major problems. And we can do so while still insisting on everyone's freedom to choose.

Richard H. Thaler

#8. My hunch is that as the importance of a decision grows, the tendency to rely on quantitative analyses done by others tends to shrink. When the championship or the future of the company is on the line, managers tend to rely on their gut instincts.

Richard H. Thaler

#9. To approach these problems we once again rely on one of our guiding principles: transparency.

Richard H. Thaler

#10. The three social influences that we have emphasized - information, peer pressure, and priming - can easily be enlisted by private and public nudgers. As we will see, both business and governments can use the power of social influence to promote many good (and bad) causes.

Richard H. Thaler

#11. Psychologists tell us that in order to learn from experience, two ingredients are necessary: frequent practice and immediate feedback.

Richard H. Thaler

#12. People think about life in terms of changes, not levels. They can be changes from the status quo or changes from what was expected, but whatever form they take, it is changes that make us happy or miserable.

Richard H. Thaler

#13. specific values to objects. When they have to give something up, they are hurt more than they are pleased if they acquire the very same thing.

Richard H. Thaler

#14. One overly simplistic idea is that we can improve student performance by just by giving financial incentives to parents, teachers, or kids. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that such incentives are effective, but nuances matter.

Richard H. Thaler

#15. Doctors are crucial choice architects, and with an understanding of how Humans think, they could do far more to improve people's health and thus to lengthen their lives.

Richard H. Thaler

#16. Compare subliminal advertising to something just as cunning. If you want people to lose weight, one effective strategy is to put mirrors in the cafeteria.

Richard H. Thaler

#17. 10. Calories count in New York City. The Big Apple recently adopted a law that requires fast-food restaurants with at least fifteen outlets in the city to post, in prominent places, the calories of each of their food items so that customers can make informed choices.

Richard H. Thaler

#18. It is time to stop making excuses. We need an enriched approach to doing economic research, one that acknowledges the existence and relevance of Humans.

Richard H. Thaler

#19. Wealth, too, is often separated into various mental accounts. At the bottom of this hierarchy sits the money that is easiest to spend: cash.

Richard H. Thaler

#20. We can even see the legal institution of marriage as a precommitment strategy, not unlike that of Ulysses in approaching the Sirens, in which people knowingly choose a legal status that will protect them against their own errors.

Richard H. Thaler

#21. MBA students are not the only ones overconfident about their abilities. The "above average" effect is pervasive. Ninety percent of all drivers think they are above average behind the wheel,

Richard H. Thaler

#22. We don't have to stop inventing abstract models that describe the behavior of imaginary Econs. We do, however, have to stop assuming that those models are accurate descriptions of behavior, and stop basing policy decisions on such flawed analyses.

Richard H. Thaler

#23. suppose there was some medical procedure that will provide some modest health benefit but is extremely painful. However, the procedure is administered with a drug that does not prevent the pain but instead erases all memory of the event. Would you be willing to undertake this procedure?

Richard H. Thaler

#24. there is no question that social pressures nudge people to accept some pretty odd conclusions - and those conclusions might well affect their behavior.

Richard H. Thaler

#25. John Rawls (1971) called the publicity principle. In its simplest form, the publicity principle bans government from selecting a policy that it would not be able or willing to defend publicly to its own citizens.

Richard H. Thaler