With a monthly full money extra, I'm Chris Hill.

You're probably not familiar with Richard Nisbit and his work, but Malcolm Gladwell is.

Nisbit is a social psychology professor at the University of Michigan, and Gladwell

once called Nisbit the most influential thinker of his lifetime.

A few years ago, I talked with Professor Nisbit about the principle of sunk costs.

It's something that investors deal with, but it's also something we encounter as consumers.

The idea that if you buy a ticket to something and you're not enjoying yourself, you stick

with it because, hey, you paid good money for that ticket.

It's understandable to think that way, but it's probably not the right decision.

I think few of us walk out of movies at all, and economists would say so much the worst

for us.

I should say, I've studied economists actually make decisions in everyday life, and they

are a different species from the rest of us.

They do walk out of movies.

They do leave expensive meals, un-eaten.

They abandon projects that they spend a tremendous amount of time on.

They cut bait.

Let me give an example of what kind of sunk cost trap that most of us are going to be so

likely to fall into.

Suppose you bought a ticket for a basketball game a month ago.

You paid $100 for it.

Tonight's not of the game, but the star is not playing.

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