Why Logic Often Takes A Backseat | Peter Coy
http://tinyurl.com/4emr4
“According to the new science of neuroeconomics, the explanation might lie inside the brains of the negotiators. Not in the prefrontal cortex, where people rationally weigh pros and cons, but deep inside, where powerful emotions arise. Brain scans show that when people feel they’re being treated unfairly, a small area called the anterior insula lights up, engendering the same disgust that people get from, say, smelling a skunk. That overwhelms the deliberations of the prefrontal cortex. With primitive brain functions so powerful, it’s no wonder that economic transactions often go awry. ‘In some ways, modern economic life for humans is like a monkey driving a car,’ says Colin F. Camerer, an economist at California Institute of Technology. Until recently, economists contented themselves with observing people from the outside.”

One Small Step for Man ? | Steven E. Landsburg
http://slate.msn.com/?id=2070182
“I am privileged to teach in one of the world’s most respected economics departments. We’re on pretty much everyone’s top-15 list, and by a lot of measures, we’re considered top-five. I mention this by way of pointing out that this is not some bunch of bozos we’re talking about here. And yet somehow last summer, we managed to spend a week in a state of collective befuddlement, obsessing over a seemingly impenetrable conundrum that came up over lunch: If people stand still on escalators, then why don’t they stand still on stairs?”NOTE: Article date 28 Aug 2002