Dollars and Sense

Why does paying for things make us feel pain? Why do we find it easy to overpay for something in the present, even if it’s overpriced in the past? Why is it hard to pay $4 for a soda on vacation, when we wouldn’t spend more than $1 on that same soda at our local grocery store? The answer is simple—the heart overrules the head. We don’t see money as numbers, values, and amounts. When we use our money, we engage our hearts more than our heads. Emotions play a powerful role in shaping our financial behavior, often making us our own worst enemies. In Dollars and Sense, bestselling author and behavioral economist Dan Ariely team up with financial comedian and writer Jeff Kreisler to challenge many of our most basic assumptions about the precarious relationship between our brains and our money.