It’s obvious that both men were brilliant almost beyond compare. I’ve never studied either psychology or philosophy, or found myself attracted to either field, for that matter. Throughout The Undoing Project, Lewis describes the evolution of Kahneman and Tversky’s thinking - first, separately, and later after they forged a symbiotic intellectual partnership that lasted for decades with varying degrees of intensity. Much of Kahneman and Tversky’s seminal work was carried out in the 1970s and 80s Kahneman took home the Nobel in 2002. But I see no evidence that economic policymakers today are making any better decisions than they did two or three decades ago. I suppose this is good (though I’ve long had my doubts about the wisdom of proliferating sub-specialties).
Their work led to the development of a new field of inquiry, behavioral economics.
Working with economists, though, they demonstrated clearly that economic choices in particular are not necessarily logical.
Kahneman and Tversky proved in a dozen different ways that people make irrational decisions much of the time, and not just in the field of economics. For example, in a typical paper cited by Lewis, one economist wrote “‘The agent of economic theory is rational, selfish, and his tastes do not change.’” Which, of course, is sheer nonsense, as any sensible and halfway intelligent non-economist could have pointed out. Ever since Adam Smith, most economists have insisted that our economic choices are rigorously determined by self-interest so far as I know, most still do. I gather that they - actually just Daniel Kahneman and not his late partner in crime, Amos Tversky - won the Nobel because they seem to have persuaded at least some economists that we humans are not rational animals. But I still don’t quite understand why their work gained a Nobel prize, much less how they changed my mind. They’re both endlessly fascinating characters. I greatly enjoyed the biographical details about the two Israelis and their eccentric, on-again, off again relationship that Lewis likens to a marriage. Michael Lewis’ newest book, The Undoing Project, tells the story of two surpassingly brilliant Israeli psychologists whose work earned a Nobel prize in economics and, according to the subtitle, “Changed Our Minds.” As always, Lewis writes well, and he succeeds in blending biography and intellectual history with his usual skill. The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds, by Michael (4 out of 5)įunny thing.
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