While listening to this interview with Professor Laibson, several intriguing facts about behavioral economics and how it has been used historically, how it is used today, and how it may be used in the future, stuck out to me. I think one of the most striking things is how recent the development of the field actually is. The idea that a scientific way to explain human behavior was not popularized as a field of study until the last 40-50 years is surprising. Perhaps this field was around but it wasn’t supported widely enough to become a legitimate field of academic interest. Had I been conducting this interview, I wouldve wanted to know more about the different types of behavioral economics, i.e. what types of behavior can be explained using this scientific field of study. Consumer behavior, behavior by market actors, federal institution behavior, etc. are all different types of economic behavior and I would be curious to how these methods of prediction change between each of these various areas.

Audio of my Chosen Interview Spiegelhalter-AG-Part 1 of 2-Sep 15, 2022 at 14_31_58.mp3 The most surprising piece of information that I learned was that it used to be a commonly held belief that people tended to die in multiples of seven. Reading this now, my reaction is one of shock and disbelief as to how something as ludicrous and unfounded scientifically as this theory could be widely accepted. In fact, however, I am reminded of other beliefs that I now perceive as odd that were commonly believed at the respective time of their popularity. This phenomenon is apparent with many predictive systems we have discussed in class. This concept begs the question of what commonly held beliefs now will be thought to have been ludicrous some time in the future. I would have asked for my interviewee to expand further on the connection between the belief of the unlucky ages (multiples of seven) and the life insurance aspect. This would shed additional light on whether this multiples of seven theory was truly believed or whether it somehow corresponded to an alternate agenda.