India's Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran hailed Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman as one of the best behavioural scientists of the 20th century.
"I am sad to hear about his passing away. He (Kahneman) and Amos Tversky were the two best behavioural scientists of the 20th century," Nageswaran told Moneycontrol in a telephonic conversation.
The celebrated psychologist died on March 27, aged 90. His death was announced by Princeton University where he had been working since 1993.
The Chief Economic Advisor recalled an e-mail exchange between him and Kahneman back in 2012 over ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’.
Reminiscing the conversation, wherein Kahneman praised Nageswara's review of his book as "very perceptive", the Chief Economic Advisor said that one overarching message he took away from the celebrated psychologist's work is, "how much are we really in control of what our mind thinks and therefore acts".
"One overarching message I took away from Kahneman's work is, how much are we really in control of what our mind thinks and therefore acts. On how sometimes we have no control given the level at which our subconscious operates even though we think we make decisions. His work reminded us that human beings are not at all in control of how their minds respond to various stimuli even when it comes to routine occurrences," Nageswaran said.
Separately, Abhijit Banerjee, who won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics said ideas such as as loss aversion in behaviour economics is "very much connected to Kahneman's work, short-termism, nudges, reminders etcetera have become commonplace in all of economics."
Kahneman is regarded as a pioneer of behavioural economics, though he had never taken a course of economics. He authored the best-selling book 'Thinking, Fast and Slow', published in 2011, which argued that human beings largely act on instinct.
In 2002, Kahneman was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in recognition for his research in the fields of psychology and economics.
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