Eyal Winter, is the Silverzweig Professor of Economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Professor of Economics the University of Leicester. His research interests include microeconomics, finance, game theory, and behavioral economics.
This exchange focuses on Winter's book “Feeling Smart: Why Our Emotions Are More Rational Than We Think” (PublicAffairs, 2014), in which Winter attempts to refute the dichotomic distinction between emotions and rationality, claiming emotions are in fact often rational. Recently published in English, the Hebrew edition came out about two years ago and is still doing well in Israeli bookstores. (full disclosure: I was the editor in charge of the Hebrew edition, but have nothing to do with the English edition).
(You can find parts 1 and 2 here and here.)
***
Deal Eyal,
This exchange would not be complete if I don't make room for you to talk about your father and the rest of the family – about the way your Jewish roots made you the scholar you are today.
Your book has two types of Jewish stories: there are stories about your father, Hans Winter, and the Nazis – from which you draw conclusions of a certain kind. And then there is the wonderful story about your family's cholent, possibly the story I like the most in the book.
Please tell us how Jewish stories inform your interpretation of behavioral economics.
thank you for an enlightening exchange,
Shmuel.
***
Dear Shmuel,
There is nothing more useful than an example to explain a scientific idea or an insight in behavioral economics, and I use many of these in my book. True stories are always more effective than virtual ones, and family stories always engage me more deeply than other stories.
My father was born to a rich Jewish family in pre-WWII Germany. Shortly after his Bar Mitzvah, and about a year after Hitler took power in Germany, he escaped to Palestine with his brother who was visionary enough to interpret the Nazi regime correctly – something most Jews at the time were, tragically, unable to do. The events that took place in my father's life during this cursed year had an enormous influence on his entire life. He was eager to tell my sister and me about his memories from this period, and we were thirsty to listen.
My mother came from a very different background. She grew up in a working class Sephardic family in the old city of Jerusalem and had seven siblings. It was with these siblings that we celebrated all the Jewish holidays. When I was a kid these eight siblings turned into an extended family of 50, and we all joined for the Seder at my grandmother's small one bedroom apartment. I remember the Seder table set up in the form of a snake starting at the balcony, through the tiny living room, into her bedroom and then taking a turn right into the kitchen. My parents were never religious, but they were both very proud Jews and they made me become one as well.
I have often been asked about why so many Israelis and Jewish people are driven to work in the field of Behavioral Economics and Game Theory. One obvious reason is the Jewish people’s strong heritage of scholarship and learning. But why specifically in these fields? I think it's because Judaism is a lot about society and about behavior. The Talmud, which we all learn at school, is full of debates about incentives and about how one’s selfish desires can disrupt societal welfare. As I argue in my book, even the Ten Commandments can be interpreted as a brilliant behavioral/social mechanism to protect the nation and its prosperity.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.