Grandfather of Behavioral Economics, Prof. Danny Kahneman, Remembered
By Don Philbin, March 29, 2024
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Research psychologist who transformed “economics into a true behavioral science rather than a mere mathematical exercise” passed this week. With Prof. Tversky, he exposed hard-wired, universal brain “kinks” that predictably impact human decisions, particularly under stress and uncertainty. In almost child-like experiments, they explored and catalogued brain shortcuts like loss-aversion: why “does the loss of $100 hurt about twice as much as the gaining of $100 brings pleasure?” Kahneman recapped the work that won him the Nobel in economics in the best-seller “Thinking Fast and Slow” (2011). Doug Noll and I have taught the underlying research to mediators for more than a decade.
