Abstract
The recent Nobel Prize for economic sciences assigned to Richard H. Thaler highlights the growing importance of behavioural economics in explaining the actions of economic agents. This interdisciplinary branch of economics adopts methods and tools from other social sciences such a psychology and sociology. Nevertheless, the success of behavioural economics does not imply that economics should dismiss the mathematical formalisation of their models. The failure of the neoclassical approach is a consequences of the unrealistic assumptions concerning the decision making of economic agents, and not due to their mathematical formalisation. In this article we explore how different mathematical tools are perfectly compatible with the assumptions coming from behavioural economics and how they can be quite useful to explain stylised facts and make good forecasts.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs40329-018-0210-z/MediaObjects/40329_2018_210_Fig1_HTML.jpg)
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
See, for instance, in the vast production by Gigerenzer [2].
The “equity premium puzzle” consists, in simple terms, in the low percentage of stocks in long-term investment portfolios.
References
Chiarella, C.: What’s beyond? Alcuni punti di vista sul futuro dell’Economia matematica. Lett. Matematica PRISTEM 74–75, 108–111 (2010) (English version: What’s Beyond? Some Perspectives on the Future of Mathematical Economics. In: Dieci, R., He, X.Z., Hommes, C. (eds.): Nonlinear Economic Dynamics and Financial Modelling. Springer, Berlin (2014), pp. 19–23)
Gigerenzer, G., Todd, P.M.: Simple Heuristics that make us smart. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1999)
Kahneman, D., Tversky, A.: Prospect Theory: an analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica. 47, 263–292 (1979)
Quiggin, J.: Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk Among Us. Princeton University Press, Princeton (2010)
Thaler, R.H., Benartzi, S.: Save more tomorrow: using behavioral economics to increase employee saving. J. Polit. Econ. 112, S164–S187 (2004)
Thaler, R.H., Sunstein, C.R.: Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Yale University Press, New Haven (2008)
Tversky, A., Kahneman, D.: Advances in prospect theory: cumulative representation of uncertainty. J. Risk Uncertain. 5, 297–323 (1992)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tramontana, F. Behavioural economics and mathematics: chronicles of an alliance. Lett Mat Int 6, 13–17 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40329-018-0210-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40329-018-0210-z