The Importance of Behavior Economics

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behavioral economics is really interesting, i think there's no getting around the fact that it is fascinating. But my empirical experience with loss of version and trying to use subtle framing effects hasn't yielded very much in terms of empirical results. There's a lot more power in just getting the incentives right and getting prices right. Its incredibly powerful.

Author and economist Steven Levitt is the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and host of the podcast "People I (Mostly) Admire." He is best known as the co-author, with Stephen Dubner, of Freakonomics. The book, published in 2005, became a phenomenon, selling more than 5 million copies in 40 languages. Levitt talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the book's surprising success, the controversy it generated, and how it shaped his career. Levitt says, for him, "economics is about going into the world and finding puzzles and thinking about how understanding incentives or markets might help us get a better grasp of what's really going on."