Saturday, December 15, 2012

There was a popular book written a while back called The Paradox of Choice. It’s about psychological studies which found that the more choices and greater variety people are presented with, the less happy they are with what they ultimately choose, even if that choice is objectively better than what was available in limited choices. Economically speaking, it’s because in every choice we make, every commitment we make, there’s an opportunity cost. When you perceive your opportunities to be small, then it’s easy to be satisfied with choosing only one and giving up the rest. When you perceive them to be immense, it’s more difficult.