"Assuming that people are smart is more challenging than assuming they’re stupid — and yields far greater insights"

"Economic methodology, in turned out, demanded a level of respect for humanity that is often missing in other social sciences. In studying how people make choices, for example, economists don’t presume that, 'People drive too fast because (unlike me) they’re too stupid to understand the dangers.' Economists, instead, must ask, 'Why do intelligent people drive too fast, given that they know and understand the dangers of doing so?' It turns out that assuming that people are smart is more challenging than assuming they’re stupid. But assuming they’re smart yields far greater insights."

~ David Henderson from his post 'Robert Graboyes on the Minds of Economists'