Lectio Inauguralis Fondazione Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi Chair in Behavioral Economics and Finance

In today’s society it is certainly no surprise that we are seeing increasingly more often – and with obvious concern – that individual choices (that have a tendency to become collective) are less rational. Hence the need for analysts to equip themselves also on a psychological – and perhaps sociological – level to better understand the behavior of operators. However, if this is true in the economic sector – as dramatic events of the last decades, starting with the dramatic (and in some ways inexplicable) crisis of 2007, prove – I would like to briefly expand these circumstances to more general aspects of society, which are equally harbingers of troubling consequences.

This is seen in the proliferation of fake news, which is not infrequently instrumental to less-than-commendable objectives to which less-wise people are unconsciously led.

Examples of this, with often negative implications, are the somewhat anti-scientific choices observed in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are also examples in the political sphere if it is true that well-orchestrated disinformation campaigns conditioned the referendum that led to Brexit and recently, to the elections in Slovakia.

I do not think it is necessary to point out the related risks for democracy itself. Therefore, I welcome socio-cognitive studies designed to understand the mechanisms – and, if possible, remedy them – that lead to making choices "distorted" by prejudice. No less important, however, is every possible effort to provide young people – particularly university students – with the criteria for awareness and discernment that can guide them in their professional lives to make choices that are actually rational and aimed at serving society.