Daniel Kahneman, the prominent psychologist whose seminal work on decision-making and cognitive biases significantly impacted the field of economics, leading to a Nobel Prize, died on March 27, 2024, at the age of 90. In 2022, we reached out to Professor Daniel Kahneman regarding his important books, however, he confirmed that due to his age, he was understandably unable to take on more projects.

Who was Daniel Kahneman?

Born on March 5, 1934, in Tel Aviv, Israel, and raised in Paris, Kahneman’s early life was marked by his family’s flight from Nazi-occupied France. He pursued his education passionately, ending up with a doctorate in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1961. Kahneman found a long-standing home at Princeton University since 1993, where he continued to research until his passing.

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Kahneman was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2002 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013, accolades that highlighted his profound influence on understanding human thought and economic behaviour. Reflecting on his life’s work, Kahneman mused on the Nobel website, “I will never know if my vocation as a psychologist was a result of my early exposure to interesting gossip, or whether my interest in gossip was an indication of a budding vocation. Like many other Jews, I suppose, I grew up in a world that consisted exclusively of people and words, and most of the words were about people.”

His groundbreaking research was often conducted in collaboration with Amos Tversky, which won the Nobel Prize for work on biases and decision-making. It also forged a deep friendship between the two. Their collaboration and its impact on psychology and economics were vividly portrayed in Michael Lewis’s 2016 book, “The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds,” a testament to their transformative influence on the field.

His recent work, “Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment”, co-authored with Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein, delved into the less explored concept of noise in decision-making. Cass Sunstein, reflecting on their collaboration, remarked on social media, “One of the many incredible things about Danny Kahneman: He was a joyful coauthor.”

Books by Daniel Kahneman

His contributions extended beyond his research. Daniel Kahneman was also a prolific author, producing books that have become essential readings across disciplines.

• Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011). This book delves into the two systems that drive the way we think and make decisions: System 1, which is fast and emotional; and System 2, which is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman explores a wide range of insights into how choices are made in our personal and professional lives, and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble.
• Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment (2021). This is co-authored with Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein: In this book, Kahneman, Sibony, and Sunstein explore the concept of “noise” in judgement and decision-making. Unlike bias, which is a predictable deviation from the truth, noise is the variability of judgments that should be identical. The book examines the detrimental effects of noise in various fields, including medicine, law, economic forecasting, and more, and offers strategies for reducing noise to make better decisions.

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• Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases (1982). Edited with Paul Slovic and Amos Tversky, this collection of essays compiles the groundbreaking work by Kahneman and his colleagues on heuristics and biases in decision making. It’s a foundational text for understanding the cognitive biases that affect our thinking and decision-making processes.
• Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology (1999). This book gathers the work of leading researchers on what makes people happy. It explores the psychological research on hedonic well-being, examining theories and findings about what influences our sense of well-being and happiness.
• Choices, Values, and Frames (2000). Co-edited with Amos Tversky, the book is a compilation of Kahneman and Tversky’s seminal works on prospect theory, which won Kahneman the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. It explores how people make decisions in uncertain environments and introduces the concept of framing effects on our choices.

Kahneman’s legacy is survived by his partner, Barbara Tversky, his children, stepchildren, and a multitude of scholars, practitioners, and readers who were profoundly influenced by his work.

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