Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely

[WolfOfMainStreet]

[amazonsearch]Predictably Irrational [/amazonsearch]

 

After reading books like Buyology by Martin Lindstrom and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell I started getting a serious interest in understanding what motivates consumers. My general introductory economics classes offered me a more "rational" picture of things but looking all around me I saw people buying impulsively and neglecting to save. I believe that we are light years away from the world in Adam Smith's The Wealth Of Nations. The invention of credit cards and the detachment from physical cash has pushed us into a new age of consumerism. While Smith's concepts of the invisible hand and the division of labor still make sense today our modern economy has changed substantially. After a few online searches and some reading I stumbled onto something called behavioral economics. Eventually after a recommendation from a friend I picked up Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. He does a great job at covering subjects like relativity, supply, demand, free, norms, arousal, self-control, ownership, price, opportunities, and expectations. At first I thought this book was more theoretical but he uses a legitimate scientific approach to apply his ideas. If there was ever a writer who could really get into the psychological side of business it would be him. Dan has a PhD in business administration and a PhD in cognitive psychology. Needless to say the stuff he writes about has many implications in the personal and professional realms. I'm pretty sure any value investor can read this book and take away a few things that could really help them. Without spoiling too much about the book I would recommend this to anyone who as an interest in investing, business, or psychology. The "Revised and Expanded" edition is around three hundred pages. You could finish this up in a couple of weekends of relaxed reading. Here are some links if you are just wondering about what's inside before giving it a read.

 

http://zsoltbabocsai.org/dan-ariely-predictably-irrational/

http://bookoutlines.pbworks.com/w/page/14422685/Predictably%20Irrational

 

and Dan Ariely's website: http://danariely.com/

 

I am in no way affiliated with him or getting compensated for this. I just legitimately like the book. I also recommend the first two books mentioned in this post.

 

Happy reading and investing,

Wolfie

[merkhet]

I second this. I've read pretty much everything I could find by him. He's quite amazing.

[compounding]

Yes, a very good book. There is one or two videos on TED also if you want an introduction/revisit and he is fairly active on facebook/twitter. I didn't like Blink very much though.

[augustabound]

He offered a course through Coursera last year that was pretty interesting. 

 

https://www.coursera.org/course/behavioralecon

 

It's not currently being offered but you can check back since these courses on Coursera tend to run again after 8 or 10 months. 

Having said that, this one was from last March so hopefully he will open it up again.

[Jurgis]

$2.99 on sale at Amazon today.