Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thaler, Richard H., 1945-
Quasi rational economics / Richard H. Thaler.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-87154-846-1 ISBN 0-87154-847-X (pbk.) 1. Economics. I. Title. HB171.T47 1991 91-9797 330—dc20
First Paperback Edition 1994
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Introduction xi
Part One MENTAL ACCOUNTING AND CONSUMER CHOICE
1 Toward A Positive Theory of Consumer Choice 3
2 Mental Accounting and Consumer Choice 25
3 Gambling with the House Money and Trying
to Break Even: The Effects of Prior Outcomes
on Risky Choice (with Eric J. Johnson) 48
Part Two SELF-CONTROL AND INTERTEMPORAL CHOICE
4 An Economic Theory of Self-Control (with
Hersh M. Shefrin) 77
5 The Behavioral Life-Cycle Hypothesis (with
Hersh M. Shefrin) 91
6 Some Empirical Evidence on Dynamic
Inconsistency 127
ix
X Contents__________________________________________________________
Part Three EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS
7 The Psychology of Choice and the Assumptions
of Economics 137
8 Experimental Tests of the Endowment Effect and
Coase Theorem (with Daniel Kahneman and
Jack L. Knetsch) 167
9 The Psychology and Economics Conference
Handbook 189
Part Four FAIRNESS
10 Fairness as a Constraint on Profit-Seeking:
Entitlements in the Market (with
Daniel Kahneman and Jack L. Knetsch) 199
11 Fairness and the Assumptions of Economics
(with Daniel Kahneman and Jack L. Knetsch) 220
Part Five FINANCIAL MARKETS
12 The Relevance of Quasi Rationality in
Competitive Markets (with Thomas Russell) 239
13 Does the Stock Market Overreact? (with
Werner F.M. De Bondt) 258
14 Further Evidence on Investor Overreaction
and Stock Market Seasonality (with
Werner F.M. De Bondt) 274
15 Do Security Analysts Overreact? (with
Werner F.M. De Bondt) 301
16 Investor Sentiment and the Closed-end Fund Puzzle
(with Charles M.C. Lee and Andrei Shleifer) 310
Index 353