Meet Richard H. Thaler, a Nobel laureate whose work in behavioral economics has had far-reaching impact.
Richard H. Thaler, the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics Emeritus, is a pioneer of the field of behavioral economics, which combines economic and psychological knowledge to understand human behavior. His own work and that of others following in his footsteps has challenged the idea that we are reliably rational actors—explaining “anomalies” in which people act contrary to economic predictions. In 2017, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recognized his pivotal role in creating behavioral economics with the Sverige Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
Thaler, who appeared as himself explaining economic concepts in the 2015 film The Big Short, might be best known for the idea of nudges, which is that small, light-handed adjustments to people’s options can alter their behavior in positive ways. After he published Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness with Cass Sunstein in 2008, governments around the world adopted the premise in areas as distinct as taxation, health care, and environmental stewardship.
Thaler is also the author of Quasi-Rational Economics (1991); Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics (2015); and, most recently, with Chicago Booth’s Alex O. Imas, The Winner’s Curse: Behavioral Economics Anomalies, Then and Now (2025).