The belief that people will behave properly if placed under the right institutions is a common notion in economics and society. However, this belief overlooks the influence of acquired motivations, beliefs, and values on individuals. Simply transplanting institutions from one place to another does not guarantee similar behavior, as there is an inherent connection between individuals' motivations and values and the institutions they operate in.
Joe Henrich joins the podcast to tell us that we know nothing about his work and that how we got to teach a class in anything is absolutely amazing. We continue our discussion from Episode 17 about his critique of the social and behavioral sciences in "The Weirdest People in the World" and his work in small scale societies on fairness norms. We also talk about the weird American obsession with happiness, monkeys throwing cucumbers, and why some people reject "hyper-fair" offers of more than the half the pot in the ultimatum games.
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Special Guest: Joe Henrich.
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