Inside the Mind of an Economist: Dr. Eugenio Proto on Personality and Choice
Dr. Eugenio Proto, Alec Cairncross Chair of Applied Economics and Econometrics at the University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School, unpacks fascinating insights from his research, showing how personality traits, cognitive ability, and emotional states subtly shape the economic and social decisions that define our lives.
Tracing his journey from traditional models to behavioral complexity, Professor Proto shows how the Big Five personality traits, emotional states, and different types of intelligence interact to influence our choices at work, in markets, and at the ballot box. Drawing on natural experiments such as the COVID-19 pandemic, cross-cultural studies, and laboratory research, he challenges simplistic stories about happiness, stress, and rational decision-making, instead revealing nuanced, often non-linear patterns in how people think, feel, and act. Along the way, the conversation highlights why moods and relationships matter for productivity, why voters can rarely be fully “rational,” and why policy, management, and education must account for both cognitive limits and emotional forces. Ultimately, the episode invites listeners to embrace the discomfort of partial models and unresolved complexity, recognizing that economic behavior is deeply human, and that honest scholarship must balance explanatory ambition with intellectual humility.
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