Fourth Atkinson Lecture - Economics

Anecdotes, Narratives, and Economic Modelling

"No one ever made a decision because of a number. They need a story." This quote, attributed to Daniel Kahneman, implies that standard economic theory, which has quantitative cost-benefit calculations at its core, misses the role of stories in economic decision making.

This lecture will present attempts to incorporate story-based reasoning into economic modeling, and explore their implications for key economic and political systems.  One example will be about how market competition works when consumers use anecdotes to evaluate market alternatives. Another example will be about how false causal narratives affect political dynamics.

About The Atkinson Lectures:

The Department of Economics at the University of Essex runs a series of public lectures on current policy themes.  The series is named after Professor Tony Atkinson, a highly distinguished economist who was Professor at Essex from 1971 to 1976 and had a strong interest in applying economic research to important policy issues. The series aims to reach students as well as Faculty, in Economics and other disciplines and to foster discussion.