Abstract
John Cochrane, a leading economist, has consistently expressed a skeptical view toward behavioral economics and libertarian-paternalism. Specifically, he has consistently voiced his disagreement with the premise of “protecting” people from their own choices. However, in his hobby of piloting gliders, he has strongly argued that pilots will make behavioral errors. Indeed, he notes that pilots can be tempted to make unsafe decisions and has argued for specific rules to help prevent pilot error. In this article, we examine this contradiction. In doing so, it provides an interesting case study of how our beliefs in one system can be quite different in another.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adler
D.
(Producer), &
Clark
M.
(Director). (2010 ). Mind over money [Motion picture]. The United States : Public Broadcasting Service .
2.
Ariely
D.
(2008 ). Predictably irrational . New York, NY : Harper-Collins .
3.
Cassidy
J.
(2010 , January 13 ). Interview with John Cochrane . The New Yorker . Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/interview-with-john-cochrane
4.
Cochrane
J.
(2009 , September 16 ). How did Paul Krugman get it so wrong? Retrieved from https://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john.cochrane/research/papers/krugman_response.htm
5.
Cochrane
J.
(2011 , January 14 ). IX. Safety . Retrieved from soaringcafe.com/2011/01/evolution-of-us-contest-soaring-p9/
6.
Cochrane
J.
(2012 a, January 31 ). Consumer financial protection, 1984 [Blog post] . The Grumpy Economist. Retrieved from http://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2012/01/consumer-financial-protection-1984.html
7.
Cochrane
J.
(2012 b, October 21 ). 2012 SSA rules committee safety review . Retrieved from www.ssa.org/files/member/2012%20BB%20Safety%20Review.pdf
8.
Cochrane
J.
(2012 c, Spring ). You will be tempted . Gliding Australia , pp. 12 -13 .
9.
Cochrane
J.
(2014 a, November 23 ). Behavioral political economy [Blog post] . The Grumpy Economist. Retrieved from http://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2014/11/behavioral-political-economy.html
10.
Cochrane
J.
(2014 b, February 26 ). Cost-benefit analysis for financial regulation [Blog post]. The Grumpy Economist . Retrieved from http://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2014/02/cost-benefit-analysis-for-financial.html
11.
Cochrane
J.
(2015 a, May 22 ). Homo economicus or homo paleas? [Blog post] . The Grumpy Economist . Retrieved from http://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2015/05/homo-economicus-or-homo-paleas.html
12.
Cochrane
J.
(2015 b, August 1 ). Rule of law in the regulatory state [Blog post] . The Grumpy Economist . Retrieved from http://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2015/08/rule-of-law-in-regulatory-state.html
13.
Egan
L.
Santos
L.
Bloom
P.
(2007 ). The origins of cognitive dissonance: Evidence from children and monkeys . Psychological Science , 18 , 978 -983 . Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40064856
14.
Tett
G.
(2010 , May 7 ). Breakfast with the FT: Nouriel Roubini . Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/2cb543cc-595b-11df-99ba-00144feab49a
15.
Zweig
J.
(2007 ). Your money and your brain: How the new science of neuroeconomics can help make you rich . New York, NY : Simon & Shuster .