Master of the irrational wins Nobel economics prize

University of Chicago’s Richard Thaler, one of the founders of behavioural economics and finance, was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics for shedding light on how human weaknesses such as a lack of rationality and self-control can ultimately affect markets.

The 72-year-old, the co-author of the 2008 best-seller Nudge, has “built a bridge between the economic and psychological analyses of individual decision-making,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

“By exploring the consequences of limited rationality, social preferences, and lack of self-control, he has shown how these human traits systematically affect individual decisions as well as market outcomes,” the academy said.