168 Quotes by Richard Thaler

A good rule of thumb is to assume that everything matters.

I think we also have learned the lesson that we have to have better incentive structures.

Recall that people like to do what most people think it is right to do; recall too that people like to do what most people actually do.

People exaggerate their own skills. they are optimistic about their prospects and overconfident about their guesses, including which managers to pick.

The same with the mortgage brokers that were selling people mortgages they couldn't afford. We shouldn't pay them on each mortgage they write. They should have what they call "skin in the game," where they've got to reimburse us if the guy who sold the mortgage defaults.

I think one lesson we have to learn is that there's a lot more risk than we're giving credit to, a lot more what economist calls systematic risk.

Maybe you'll take the cash out. So a credit card company or a bank that goes into the business of saying we're going to be the broker, we're going to sell you a mortgage that you're going to be able to pay off, we're going to help you reduce your credit card debt, we're going to help you save for retirement, we're going to put you into mutual funds that have low fees rather than high fees.

Why tie to gold? Why not 1982 Bordeaux?

I'm all for empowerment and education, but the empirical evidence is that it doesn't work. That's why I say make it easy.