Our favourite irrationalities

Abstract

Ariely is one of the young researchers who are at the forefront of the discipline called behavioral economics. Behavioral economics tends to question the basic assumptions of economic theory such as rationality and the infinite cognitive ability of the actor and the stability and fixed nature of our preferences. In connection with these, such general laws as supply and demand also come under scrutiny. The starting point of these researchers is that one should ask how people actually behave and make decisions in everyday life, not how they should behave according to mainstream economic theory.