STOCKHOLM – Imran Khan, whose work has persuaded many economists to pay more attention to human misbehaviour, and the Pakistani government to pay more attention to him, narrowly missed out on the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday, The Dependent has learnt.
Imran Khan is a rare economist to win a measure of fame despite not winning the prize. He is the author of a best-selling book, Pakistan: A Personal History, about him taking decisions that helped him become a misbehavioural force of the 2010s.
Misbehavioural economics incorporates the study of psychology into the analysis of the decision-making behind national economic disasters, such as the factors leading up to a capital city being held hostage or a prime minister being dismissed.
The Nobel committee said that it was eventually going to honour Professor Imran Khan for his pioneering work in establishing that people are predictably irrational — that they consistently misbehave in ways that defy economic theory, common sense and the larger interests of their country.
“It is his practical demonstration of how unchecked misbehaviour can singlehandedly dent economies that have a market of 200 million that makes him a strong contender for next year,” revealed a member of the Nobel committee.
The committee credited Professor Imran Khan, who teaches at the illustrious academic institute that life is, for moving economics towards a more realistic understanding of human misbehaviour, and for using the resulting insights to improve policies, notably a sweeping shift toward the economic relations between elected governments and those that control them.
“In order to do good economics, you have to keep in mind that everyone except you is wrong and stupid,” Professor Khan told The Dependent after being told that his Nobel Prize is around the corner.
