Ariely on Bear Stearns

Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational, Behavioral Economics,

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Education

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• Ariely
• Predictably
• Irrational
• Behavioral
• Economics

[gjack80]

Absolutely disagree; the fact is that in grad school, college, etc, there are lots of seminars, talks, social events where departments buy food and drink and the leftovers get stored all over labs, offices, refrigerators, etc. People EXPECT that stuff that is not being touched is actually intended for their consumption. However, that is obviously not the case with money.

Repeat your experiment with non-food items such as clothes (which is as removed from money as food is).

[danariely]

This is a much better response then your other one.

First, the issue is with the social norm about taking food at each place, and here the norm was not to share.

Second, and more important, we have carried out similar studies with other things that are just a step removed from money (tokens) and the results are the same!

So for now I am guessing that this is a general finding.

Best

Dan

[drd105]

I don't think you realize that options are only abstract to non-professionals. As someone who trades often (but not professionally), I would argue that after a while the I see the underlying instruments as more abstract than the options.  Options capture very restricted conditions of the underlying instruments. While money is much more murky. Any understanding of money must involve 2 variables (amount and time). And there is a lot more randomness in that abstraction than in options.