"The Economy is Cognitive Science, Stupid!"

Just ask Kahneman

Ever since I helped organize a conference on Cognitive Science & Economics @ UofT as a student president, I’ve known this:

1. "It's the economy, stupid!" -James Carville

2. The economy is incentives (MMT)

3. Therefore, “it's incentives, stupid!”

4. Incentives are Psychology

5. Therefore, “it's Psychology, stupid!”

6. Psychology is a Cognitive Science

7. Therefore, “it's Cognitive Science, stupid!”

Now tell that to our Finance Minister, whose own incentives are quite questionable — does she even apply anything better than Operant Conditioning in her Behavioral Economics? I don’t think so…

Yours Truly,
Adam Golding