NYU’s Thomas Cooley has yet to see a reason why it should change.

Question: Do we need to change how economics is taught?

Thomas Cooley:  I don't, but behavioral economics and behavioral finance is very much an active area of investigation.  I think that it's-- you know, we encourage-- we have lots of faculty who are interested in pursuing research in behavioral economics and behavioral finance and looking at different ways of characterizing individual behavior.  So far, the evidence is not compelling, one way or the other, so I think that behavioral economics has something to offer us.  I think it's interesting.  But I haven't seen enough that convinces me–– it's not that people aren't always rational all the time, rather it's that that's the best model we have for understanding behavior over long periods of time.  So, but that's an ongoing debate.

Recorded: 3/21/08