Behavioral Economics Popular-Press Article about Psychology

Behavioral Economics
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Behavioral Economics
Popular-Press Article about Psychology
According to the New York Times article titled “Why is Behavioral Economics so Popular,” the author expounds on the behavioral economics, where he notes that it has gained tremendous popularity in the recent past (Gal, 2018). The author also states that the behavioral economics’ lexicon of “the endowment effect,” “framing bias,” and “nudging” has been incorporated into the vernacular of policymaking, finance, and business. Importantly, the author is right when he defines behavioral economics as being economics that is undertaken with good psychology’s strong injections as noted by one of the founders of the topic, Richard Thaler. He further articulates that behavioral economics is a method of making economics more appropriate through integrating more realistic assumptions regarding the manner in which human beings behave (Gal, 2018). Subsequently, these sentiments are also supported by Chetty (2015), where he notes that behavioral economics has effectively incorporated psychology insights into the economics topic.
In reference to Chetty (2015), behavioral economics is mostly framed as being a question regarding the foundational economic models’ assumptions. Chetty (2015) in his peer-reviewed article named “Behavioral Economics and Public Policy: A Pragmatic Perspective,” he presents a unique behavioral economics’ pragmatic perspective. The author primarily focuses on the value of behavioral economics for improving policy decisions and empirical predictions. Notably, these notions are also backed by Gal (2018), when he states that a huge section of behavioral economics utilizes psychological insights that eventually influence behavior, which assists in policy decisions and policy change.
Also, according to Gal (2018), the popularity of various low-cost “nudges” or psychological interventions, which are behavioral economics’ labels, have become part of a marketing triumph. As such, this reflects the prevalent view that behavioral economics is a combination of the fun and cleverness of pop psychology together with the relevance, as well as the rigor of economics. Notably, Lavecchia, Liu, and Oreopoulos (2016) in their article “Behavioral Economics of Education: Progress and Possibilities,” provide valuable information about behavioral economics. The authors note that behavioral economics strives to incorporate insights from sociology, neuroscience, and psychology, which significantly assists in developing more effective policies and predicting individual outcomes (Lavecchia, Liu, & Oreopoulos, 2016).
On the other hand, Bhargava and Loewenstein (2015) in their article “Behavioral Economics and Public Policy 102: Beyond Nudging,” also back the notions that Gal (2018) provides in his popular-press article. Bhargava and Loewenstein (2015) state that policymakers are presently embracing behavioral economics as being an alternative approach that acknowledges the consequences and limits of human decision-making. According to Gal (2018), he also provides a valuable i...