Learning is a social activity

Charles Goodhart

Review of Behavioral Finance, 2020, vol. 12, issue 1, 21-25

Abstract: Purpose - Learning often requires little or no expenditure in income; its real cost is that it takes time. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach - Since time is scarce, most people normally decide not to learn about many aspects of modern life, but rather to specialise on certain limited areas. When a matter arises outside our specialisation, we tend to follow others whose narratives we trust. Findings - So, learning in many cases arises from social interaction, not from individual study. Consequently, informational contagion is baked into our social and economic systems. Originality/value - Treating time, not income or wealth, as the ultimate constraint improves analysis of the learning process, clarifying its essential social nature.

Keywords: Time; Learning; Narratives; Heuristics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:rbfpps:rbf-10-2019-0149

DOI: 10.1108/RBF-10-2019-0149

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