Richard Thaler and behavioral economics: From the lab experiments to the practice of nudging (Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences 2017)

The paper considers the contribution of Richard Thaler, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner - 2017, to contemporary behavioural economics as an independent area of economics research. It covers the interactions of behavioural economics with experimental and empirical research, and the use of behavioural models to explain various phenomena of individual decisions, group interactions, financial market behaviour etc. Specific attention is paid to the practice of behavioural “nudging” and its methodological foundations (libertarian paternalism), as well as the role and place of behavioural research in modern economics in general.