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EXTRA: People Aren’t Dumb. The World Is Hard. (Update)

Freakonomics Radio

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Behavioral Insights Shape Economic Thought

Economics has historic roots in behavioral analysis, exemplified by early thinkers like Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. Keynes's 'General Theory' highlighted behavioral finance long before the formal emergence of behavioral economics post-World War II. After the war, a mathematical revolution redefined economics, driven by figures like Paul Samuelson and Kenneth Arrow, focusing on optimization problems and mathematical modeling to analyze behavior systematically. This shift emphasized a quantitative approach, overshadowing the behavioral insights that characterized pre-war economic thought.

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