2025-12-24
34 分钟Hey there, listeners.
It's Michela.
Behind the Money's on a break for the holidays, but I didn't want to leave you hanging,
so I want to introduce you to one of our sister podcasts, The Economics Show.
Every week, one of the FT's top columnists or correspondents, usually our economics columnist,
Sumaya Keynes, sits down to untangle a thorny economic issue with a guest.
The episode you're about to hear features Chris Giles,
our economics commentator and writer of the FT's Central Banks newsletter.
He's speaking with noble laureate Richard Thaler to figure out why investors,
politicians, and ordinary people so often act against their best interests.
So here it goes.
Over to Chris.
There are mythical creatures that stride the land of economics.
Their species name is Homo economicus.
The myth says they're perfectly rational, self-interested, calculating individuals.
Whole economic models have been built on this creature's ability to rationally maximise their happiness.
Economists use these models to predict decisions and behaviour.
Of course,
everyone always knew Homo economicus was never a fully accurate description of the way people behave.
It was a useful simplification.