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Freakonomics Radio

340. People Aren’t Dumb. The World Is Hard.

Freakonomics Radio

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.632K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2018

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You wouldn’t think you could win a Nobel Prize for showing that humans tend to make irrational decisions. But that’s what Richard Thaler has done. The founder of behavioral economics describes his unlikely route to success; his reputation for being lazy; and his efforts to fix the world — one nudge at a time.

Transcript

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0:00.0

So let's begin if you would say your name and title.

0:09.0

I'm Richard Taylor.

0:10.0

I'm a professor at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.

0:15.0

I see technically you're called the Charles R. Walgreens Distinguished Service Professor

0:21.3

of Behavioral Sciences, blah, blah, blah, is that accurate?

0:23.6

Walgreens?

0:24.6

Yeah, yeah, that's accurate.

0:26.4

But I didn't want to take up the whole podcast.

0:28.6

I understand.

0:29.8

That's my title.

0:30.8

I was curious, however, I guess it's an endowed chair or something, yeah, is that what that

0:34.6

is?

0:35.6

Yeah, in fact, it's a chair that has only been held by three people, all of whom have

0:43.9

won a certain prize.

0:45.4

Ah, interesting.

0:47.7

More important though, I want to note, as it's bestowed by the Walgreens family, does the

0:52.7

position come with a discount at Walgreens drug stores?

0:56.6

There is no discount that I've been informed of.

1:00.7

That said you and I guess the other two holders of said chair, well, you are about a million

1:07.0

plus dollars richer since you were last on the show because I understand that you went

1:11.5

out and won a Nobel Prize and that they give you some money with that.

1:15.1

Now that you mention that, I won that prize in spite of your best efforts to prevent it.

...

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