Richard Thaler

“Real people have trouble balancing their checkbooks, much less calculating how much they need to save for retirement; they sometimes binge on food, drink, or high-definition televisions. They are more like Homer Simpson than Mr. Spock.”

“Tort reform is a complicated subject and not a panacea.”

“The lesson of my field, behavioral economics, is that we need to understand the ways in which we differ from the rational human assumed in standard economic theory.”

“If there is one thing that most economists agree about in the realm of tax policy, it is that it's best to broaden the base of any tax, all else being equal. That means minimizing the number of deductions and exclusions from taxable income in order to lower marginal rates and reduce distortions.”

“Lotteries are just one way to provide positive reinforcement. Their power comes from the fact that the chance of winning the prize is overvalued.”

“Parents want their children to excel, callers to a victims' hot line want help, and sick people want to get well. Offering aids is like providing an alarm clock: it may help people get to an appointment on time, but no one is forcing them to use it.”

“When employees are first eligible for a retirement savings plan, they should be enrolled unless they choose to opt out.”

“The ability of businesses to monitor our behavior is already a fact of life, and it isn't going away. Of course we must protect our privacy rights. But if we're smart, we'll also use the data that is being collected to improve our own lives.”

“Demanding that the rich get a tax cut as a condition for tax relief for others is simply elitist.”

“How can government reduce the frequency and the severity of future catastrophes? Companies that have the potential to create significant harm must be required to pay for the costs they inflict, either before or after the fact. Economists agree on this general approach. The problem is in putting such a policy into effect.”

“The main thing that you learn in grad school, or should learn, is how to think like an economist. The rest is just math.”

“The lesson for businesses is you are dealing with real people. Those are your customers, those are your employees, those are your bosses, and the better you understand how real people tick, the more successfully you will be able to accomplish your goals.”

“If you want to encourage some activity, make it easy.”

“If you're trading individual securities, you're almost certainly making a mistake. Because most professional managers can't outperform their benchmarks, and there's little reason to think that individuals can.”

“I don't think it says anywhere in the Bible that tithing should be calculated on a before-tax basis.”

“High school seniors should receive help in how to think about a student loan and how to make sure that the education bought with the loan offers good prospects for repayment.”

“Coining a term is not the same as creating a field!”

“My thesis topic was 'The value of a human life.' I asked people a question: 'Suppose you had some risk, a one in a thousand risk of dying - how much would you pay to eliminate it?'”

“The Nobel Prize is going to be 'fun money' - for an occasion, when my wife and I want a $50 bottle of wine.”

“People are less likely to think it's immoral to walk away from their home if they know others who have done so. And if enough people do it, the stigma begins to erode.”