Take Risks for the Sake of Others

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You take risks for the sake of others. That's it. You're not risk lover, but e, you i some one got to take a risk to the one who takes it. And that sort of like the idea was not to die with in a nursing home with tubes coming out of your nose. The idea is to die in battle, ok? That's just what you're made to do,. So prominence came a with that kind os a lord, so wlls a lorda cossack - andit, i se was presiding in society yet to day. It was o it was oas onsalso, it was dishonourable to find a way out.

Nassim Taleb of NYU-Poly talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his recent paper (with Constantine Sandis) on the morality and effectiveness of "skin in the game." When decision makers have skin in the game--when they share in the costs and benefits of their decisions that might affect others--they are more likely to make prudent decisions than in cases where decision-makers can impose costs on others. Taleb sees skin in the game as not just a useful policy concept but a moral imperative. The conversation closes with some observations on the power of expected value for evaluating predictions along with Taleb's thoughts on economists who rarely have skin in the game when they make forecasts or take policy positions.