On the money
STUART THEOBALD: Everything going to pieces? First check your availability bias
SA’s national mood is driving a momentum to the downside across swathes of the country
24 July 2023 - 05:00
Behavioural economists use the term “availability bias” to describe our tendency to be overly persuaded by near-term information. What has happened most recently dominates our thinking about what is likely to happen next.
A road exploding in central Johannesburg shifts our view about the quality of metro maintenance of infrastructure and governance. A coin landing on tails shifts our view about the likelihood of the next flip (a bias also called the “gambling fallacy”)...
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