Roundtable discussion on Psychology and Behavioural Economics with Professor Daniel Kahneman

19 August 2011

Professor Kahneman discussed the psychology underpinning current applications of behavioural economics to financial behaviour, and described why normally rational, clear headed people with a wealth of information at their fingertips make questionable decisions based on gut instinct.

Nobel laureate and one of the founders of behavioural economics, Professor Daniel Kahneman is a world leading and inspiring psychologist.

Professor Kahneman was born to Lithuanian parents in Tel Aviv but spent his childhood years in Paris, France, before returning to Palestine (soon to become Israel) in 1946.

He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology and mathematics from the Hebrew University, and earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkley in 1961. He has since held positions at the Hebrew University, University of British Columbia, and University of California, and is currently a senior scholar at Princeton University.

In the 1970s, with his colleague Amos Tversky, he was among the first academics to explore the psychology of judgement and decision making, and the irrational ways we make economic decisions about risk. This inspired the development of behavioural economics, and of behavioural finance in particular. The 2002 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded for Kahneman’s work with Tversky.