Nobel prize for a behaviour influencer: lessons from the work of Richard Thaler

Abstract

The Nobel Prize for Economics is awarded to Professor Richard H Thaler of the University of Chicago. As an assistant professor, Richard Thaler once faced students who were unhappy about their scores — they complained the average score was only 72 out of 100. Explanations that they would receive a letter grade on the curve irrespective of absolute scores did not help. So, Thaler increased the maximum possible score to 137, a score not easy to compute percentages in the head with, in the next exam. An average of 70% meant students, much to their delight, scored about 95 on average.

Simple, creative interventions such as this have peppered the long academic career of Thaler, winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. The Nobel Committee highlighted his contributions in understanding “the consequences of limited rationality, social preferences, and lack of self-control” in individual decisions and market outcomes. Read more at: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/richard-thaler-nobel-prize-in-economics-4884269/