Behavioral economics books – the top of the top

Here are the very best as well as two newly published books to consider.

Thinking, fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman

The most well-known book in behavioral economics is probably “Thinking, fast and slow by Nobel Prize Laureate Daniel Kahneman. This brilliant and relatively easy to read book describes our decisions as if controlled by two different systems in our brain – the fast more intuitive system which is traditionally responsible for our fight or flight responses as well as anything that we can promote without thinking “too hard”. The other system is “the slower thinking system” – the one we use for more analytical, complex, and organized thinking.

Thinking, fast and slow, describes many of our decisions and actions while attributing some of our successes and failures to those system’s inherent advantages and disadvantages and so provides deep insights into the way we think and act. Insights that for some of them we were aware and for some we were not.

The key value of the book besides beautifully simplifying dozens of years of behavioral economics research is that it may increase our awareness of the thought processes we manage and hence offer us some protection against our biases – protection and wisdom that may be as valuable as life itself is put to good use.

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

Another masterpiece belonging to the behavioral economics books genre is Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. This fabulous book actually preceded Kahneman’s book by 3 years and in many ways holds the great honor and privilege of bringing the field of behavioral economics to the public. “Predictably Irrational” opens in a personal tone and deals with many of the things we are all acquainted with within our own daily life making it ever relevant and accessible.

More so, Ariely raises remarkable unbelievable examples proving beyond any doubt how irrational we can be and in doing so he provides strong motivation and valuable insights that may allow many of us to be more rational – at least a few more times….

Nudge by Richard Thaler

Similar to Ariely and Kahneman, Thaler (also a Nobel prize winner in economics) also provides us with a great and extremely valuable book pointing how we all tend towards the “easy decision” while also suggesting a solution. Sometimes, a small simple nudge is everything we really need to be so much better – from donating our organs to doing an extra effort to peeing within the boundaries of the public toilets.  

Time Economy and the Human Time Machine by Amir Peled

The book “Time Economy and the Human Time Machine” suggests a refreshing view in the genre of behavioral economics books. Different than most books in this field, this one is not based on research or experiments. Instead, the book tries to expand our view of behavioral economics. It suggests a new and far-reaching theory claiming that in the core of all our actions it is time itself that we really value and that by measuring the value of different things in time instead of money, stars, or likes we can be aware of much greater opportunities, and benefit from them. There are opportunities for which we would not be aware, or take advantage of, if not quantifying their value as the value of time.

In many ways, the theory first presented in Time Economy offers a real viable solution to the behavioral economics biases described in the different behavioral economics books.

To get one of the best chapters of this book for free, click here and read it on our website.

Enjoy!

Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R. Sunstein

Another new release in behavioral economics. I have to admit I am yet to read it but I can make a confident gamble that it is worth the reading. Will update further after completing its reading…