Dan is one of the most popular behavioral economists in the world today. His books and research have had huge impact on our understanding of how our minds work. I finally managed to find a slot in Dan’s schedule after a year of trying and was greatly looking forward.
EB and I caught Dan in a very thoughtful and reflective mood. He had just finished speaking to a recent burn survivor and discusses his reflections during the interview. I am very thankful to Dan for all his great work – I’ve learnt a lot from him and it was a privilege to meet him on Skype.
I hope you enjoy the interview as much as we did.
As always, my favorite bits –
“There are a lot of things we do in terms of designing the world around us that if we understood human nature we would do very differently. I think it’s an amazing time for social science to try and help us redesign the world in a better way.”
On government intervention to ‘save us from ourselves’ – “To me, there are two principles that we need to think about. The first one is, is this intervention driven by data or not? And the second thing is to figure out how to weigh human freedom compared to human benefits.”
“I look at the whole world, and then I say, “Is this a place that is the outcome of 7 billion rational people? If everybody was perfectly rational this would have been the best world imaginable. If this world is not the outcome of 7 billion rational people, maybe we can do better. My hope is that as we’re learning more we will improve things.”
“When I get tired of one task, I move to another one. when I get tired of one task, I move to another one.”
“It just amazed me that you can put something out there in the world and people read it and think about it and take it seriously and maybe make a better decision or two. It’s such a tremendous feedback and motivation.”
Full transcript on RealLeaders.tv. Enjoy!
A Learning a Day 