You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hugh. And how do I introduce this talk? Because the topic is insurance. Are you still with me? Don't leave. You're about to hear a perspective widening talk from TEDx-insbrook in 2021.

Economics psychology professor Orrit Tikazinsky shares some surprising insights about risk, rationality, and how we approach living, all from her research on insurance.

Hello, everyone. My name is Orit, yes.

And I study insurance.

Telling people that you study insurance is not a good way to start a conversation.

In fact, if ever you need to end the conversation, try it. Tell people you study insurance.

People don't want to talk about insurance. They don't think it's all that exciting.

But I disagree. I find insurance fascinating. In fact, I find it magical.

And today, I'd like to show you why.

Now, the famous author, Franz Kafka,

used to work for an insurance company in Prague,

and this is what Kafka had to say about insurance.

He said,

insurance is like a religion. Insurance is like a primitive religion.

It's the religion of people who believe that by having insurance, they can ward of evil.

So according to Kafka, what leads us to buy insurance is not rational thinking, but magical thinking.

It's the belief that if I have insurance, somehow, magically, those negative events that I fear in the future,

they are not going to happen.

Of course, this is totally irrational. It's like believing that if you have an umbrella, it's not going to happen. Of course, this is totally irrational. It's like believing that if you have an

umbrella, it's not going to rain. If your car gets stolen, yes, the insurance company will cushion

the blow. With the compensation money, you could probably afford a new car. But the fact that

you have insurance does not make

...