The 10 Best Economics Books of 2021 - Investopedia

Best on Behavioral Economics: Predictably Irrational

Courtesy of Amazon

In “Predictably Irrational,” Dan Ariely uses behavioral economics to explain why people do what they do. Some areas Ariely tackles, often with great humor, are lack of self-control, why so many of us procrastinate, and why we insist on splurging on certain items while saving on others. Ariely shows the reader, using hard data, that while people behave in a way that’s irrational on the surface there is some predictability to our irrationality, and there are ways to compensate when making decisions. 

A professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke, Ariely says his passion began in the hospital, when after surviving major third-degree burns he received a very painful treatment that was made more agonizing because of irrationality. Each day, Ariely would beg for short breaks and for a slower pace as his painful dressings were changed. Each day he was denied for a simple reason: the doctors and nurses, who had never endured the process themselves, said their way was less painful. 

That unforgettable experience set Ariely on a lifelong pursuit for answers. His subsequent decades of research about human behavior come together beautifully in Predictably Irrational, which upon publication in 2009 became an immediate New York Times bestseller and received praise from reviewers, economists, and everyday readers in equal measure.

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The 10 Best Economics Books of 2021 - Investopedia
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