Neuro-economics, what it is and how it can help you build a more secure financial future

Aspasia Athinaiou
January 29, 2024

Table of Contents

Neuroeconomics is an interdisciplinary field that combines knowledge from Neuroscience, Economics and Psychology

Have you ever wondered why people make certain financial decisions, even when they seem irrational or against their own best interests? Welcome to the field of Neuroeconomics! Neuroeconomics is an interdisciplinary field that combines knowledge from Neuroscience, Economics and Psychology. to study how people make decisions in different economic and social contexts.

By examining the neural and cognitive processes underlying decision making, Neuroeconomics seeks to understand why people make certain choices and how they evaluate different choices. It helps us understand how people weigh the costs and benefits of different choices and how they learn from experience and adjust their behaviour accordingly.

Neuroeconomics has a wide range of applications in areas such as consumer behaviour, marketing, finance, public policy and healthcare. It helps us to better understand the underlying motivations behind economic decisions and to develop more effective strategies to promote behaviour change.

One of the key results of Neuroeconomics research is the identification of certain brain regions and neural pathways involved in decision making. By studying these brain regions and pathways, researchers can gain insights into the neural mechanisms that drive economic decisions and identify ways to influence behavior and decision making in a positive way.

Overall, Neuroeconomics is an exciting and rapidly growing field that has the potential to help us better understand the complex decision-making processes that underpin human behaviour. Combining insights from neuroscience, economics and psychology, neuroeconomics provides a powerful framework for studying economic decision-making and finding ways to improve it.



Here are ten examples of wrong economic decisions that Neuroeconomics can help correct:

  • Excessive spending on unnecessary purchases: Neuro-economics research can help identify the cognitive and neural factors that drive impulse spending and develop strategies to avoid it.
  • Failure to save for the future: By understanding the brain mechanisms underlying decision making and time discounting, neuroeconomics can develop interventions to promote future-oriented decision making and increase savings rates.
  • Taking on excessive debt: Neuroeconomics research can help identify the cognitive and neural factors that contribute to poor credit decisions and develop interventions to promote responsible borrowing.
  • Understanding the importance of diversification: By studying the neural and cognitive processes involved in risk perception and decision making, neuroeconomics can help individuals better understand the importance of diversification in portfolio management.
  • Become victims of financial fraud: Neuroeconomics can help identify the cognitive and neural factors that make people vulnerable to financial fraud and develop strategies to reduce susceptibility to fraud.
  • Investing based on emotion rather than logic: By understanding the cognitive and neural mechanisms that influence investment decisions, neuroeconomics can develop strategies to promote rational, evidence-based investing.
  • Failure to seek professional financial advice: Neuroeconomics can help identify the cognitive and neural factors that lead people to neglect professional financial advice and develop strategies to promote the use of financial advice.
  • Excessive risk aversion: By studying the neural and cognitive processes underlying risk perception and decision making, neuroeconomics can develop interventions to help individuals overcome excessive risk aversion to make optimal investment decisions.
  • Failure to recognise the impact of biases: neuroeconomics can help individuals to better understand and recognise cognitive biases such as confirmation bias, loss aversion and framing effects, and develop strategies to overcome them.
  • Neglecting the impact of social influences: Neuroeconomics can help individuals better understand the social and psychological factors that influence economic decision making and develop strategies to navigate these factors in a way that promotes positive economic outcomes.



    There are many inherited subconscious limiting beliefs about the money people can have. Some common examples include:

    1. Money is the root of all evil”: this belief often comes from religious or cultural teachings that suggest that wealth is immoral or that those who seek it are greedy or selfish.
    2. “Money doesn’t grow on trees”: this belief suggests that money is scarce and hard to come by, and that it requires hard work and sacrifice to obtain it.
    3. The rich are unhappy”: this belief is based on the assumption that money cannot buy happiness and that those with wealth are burdened with stress and responsibility.
    4. “Money is only for the lucky or privileged”: this belief suggests that money is largely the result of luck or inherited wealth and that it is not possible for most people to achieve financial success through hard work and determination.
    5. “I don’t deserve to be rich”: this belief is often rooted in low self-esteem and a sense of unworthiness and can lead people to believe that they are not capable of achieving financial success.

    It is important to recognise that these beliefs are often subconscious and may not be based on reality. By identifying and challenging these limiting beliefs, individuals can begin to change their mindset and develop a more positive and empowering relationship with money.

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