Question:
I am extremely new to the study of economics. I’m 30 years old, but I was curious. I have read that some economists try to predict the decision making of an individual. My question is, is a person with more education is more predictable? And of countries with higher education scores, do they make more rational decisions which could be easier to predict or understand, rather than a wealthy country with lower education, but vast amount of options. I’m assuming poorer countries with lower education are more predictable because they tend to make decisions based on limited resources.Answer:
Even though economic theory suggests that consumer behavior can be rationalized through a utility function, a growing body of research explores the role of sociodemographic, psychological, emotional, and cognitive factors in decision-making. Education has indeed been found to affect decision-making, with higher-education individuals displaying greater consistency in choices than lower-education ones (Choi et al., 2014). However, rationality is context-dependent and shaped by external constraints, cultural norms, and institutional structures.
My research finds that emotional load, induced by negative news, can influence cognitive performance and economic rationality in nuanced ways, with effects varying by political orientation and emotion regulation ability (Lagoudakis, 2025). Additionally, individuals in resource-constrained settings may appear more predictable due to necessity-driven decision-making (Fehr et al., 2022). At a national level, while education can enhance decision quality, factors such as economic stability, access to information, and policy environments also shape collective rationality.
References
-Choi, S., Kariv, S., Müller, W., & Silverman, D. (2014). Who is (more) rational?. American Economic Review, 104(6), 1518-1550.
-Fehr, D., Fink, G., & Jack, B. K. (2022). Poor and rational: Decision-making under scarcity. Journal of Political Economy, 130(11), 2862-2897.
-Lagoudakis, A. (2025). Breaking Bad News: Economic Rationality, Emotion Regulation, and Cognitive Ability
