Just read his "Misbehaving" book. Interesting in a different way, it gives a good "inside baseball" account of the development of behavioral economics.
Behavioral economics overlaps experimental economics but it is not the same thing. Behavioral economics is the intersection of psychology and economics, experiments are one way, but not the only way, to study this.
Behavioral economists may seem to be antagonistic to markets but that is not a correct interpretation. Certainly markets are not a magic bullet for every potential transactional item or social interaction out there. Smith and Gjerstad have written about the problem of durable goods markets for example. On the other side, take the famous coffee mug loss aversion experiment. If you pay attention to Thaler's book, the choice of a university branded coffee mug was not a random selection of item to be traded....
Psychology matters, but it matters a lot more in some markets than others. Just try to sell your one month old new car for 99% of the original price and see hyper-rational adverse selection buyer behavior kick in...
The video is here.
Behavioral economics overlaps experimental economics but it is not the same thing. Behavioral economics is the intersection of psychology and economics, experiments are one way, but not the only way, to study this.
Behavioral economists may seem to be antagonistic to markets but that is not a correct interpretation. Certainly markets are not a magic bullet for every potential transactional item or social interaction out there. Smith and Gjerstad have written about the problem of durable goods markets for example. On the other side, take the famous coffee mug loss aversion experiment. If you pay attention to Thaler's book, the choice of a university branded coffee mug was not a random selection of item to be traded....
Psychology matters, but it matters a lot more in some markets than others. Just try to sell your one month old new car for 99% of the original price and see hyper-rational adverse selection buyer behavior kick in...
The video is here.