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Coming home from work this past Thursday evening, I was listening to Marketplace on NPR as I so often do, and I had one of those moments….one of those moments where a story, or an idea, or a theory, or some piece of information, makes you really stop and think, and makes you really want to learn more. This time around it was behavioral economics, and since I heard the piece, I have had an insatiable appetite for more information on the topic.

The particular story that caught my attention was about the coming economic stimulus package, and more specifically how the way the money is presented to Americans will greatly affect how it is spent (or not spent). The segment featured behavioral economist Dan Ariely, who, among other things, had this to say:

For instance, I suspect that giving people a prepaid debit card will do more to rejuvenate the economy than mailing out checks, but direct deposits wouldn’t be nearly as effective. I also suspect that if we added a line on the debit card that reads “spend the government’s money” this would work even better.

The piece was short, but its points were incredibly fascinating to me. I have always been interested in economics, but I find myself getting bored when reading about traditional economic theories and looking at piles and piles of numbers and data for too long. Behavioral economics however, really takes a different and more interesting approach, using psychology and real world information to study how real people actually make their financial choices.

This is the sort of angle that captivates me and keeps me interested and thinking….not always the “whats”, but always the “whys” are what I find most thought provoking.

ANYWAYS, below are some links to some things I have been digesting, and reading, and watching, as well as some things that I intend to digest, read, and watch on the topic.

• Frontline “Secret History Of The Credit Card” -This episode of Frontline (available to watch in full on the site) was riveting. What I found most interesting of all, were the marketing tactics and how they do and don’t affect consumer behavior. The interviews with Andrew Kahr, who created things like the 0% APR and the 2% minimum payment are worth reading/watching in and of themselves.
• The Marketplace story referenced above, regarding the economic stimulus package can be listened to online for free, at marketplace.org.
• MIT has several courses online for free download, including Economics and Psychology, as well as Behavioral Economics and Finance.
• Did you know there was a behavioral economics research center here in Boston? I didn’t.