My line of work means I end up attending a lot of speeches by prominent economists. That's good, because I like economics and economists are, as a general rule, much funnier than health policy experts. (The exception is Uwe Reinhardt, who's an economist specializing in health care, and really improbably funny). But it's now de rigeur at these things for the economist standing at the front of the room -- and they're usually a pretty prominent member of the discipline -- to talk about the "revolution" overwhelming their industry as "human behavior" begins to enter their measurements. I always find that a bit unsettling. It's one thing to have trouble modeling how actual humans behave in real world circumstances. It's another to ignore it. But that, until recently, has been the prevailing approach. All this, incidentally, is a long way of linking to Matt Yglesias's review of Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism
. It's a good book by two of the most prominent behavioral economists -- Peter Orszag, in fact, is reading it -- and Matt's review is a good introduction. . It's a good book by two of the most prominent behavioral economists -- Peter Orszag, in fact, is reading it -- and Matt's review is a good introduction.
