<p>Economists like to model people as rational creatures who make self-interested decisions. But humans don’t act that way. Why do investors, politicians and ordinary people act against their best interests – and how can they be nudged into making better decisions? To find out, FT economics commentator Chris Giles speaks to Richard Thaler, the founding father of behavioural economics. Thaler is a professor at the University of Chicago who won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on how humans make (often irrational) decisions.</p><br><p><em>This is a repeat of an episode published on The Economics Show, a sister podcast of Behind the Money, on November 7, 2025. Subscribe to The Economics Show on </em><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-economics-show-with-soumaya-keynes/id1746352576" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Apple</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/64rPqCkSSBkuSJpkMLRe9i?si=70c1cb4221e54c9a" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Spotify</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://pca.st/6ysdzw0j" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Pocket Casts</em></a><em> or wherever you listen.</em></p><br><p>Presented by Chris Giles. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music by Breen Turner. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Our broadcast engineer is Andrew Georgiades.</p><br><p><br></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>