Economists study TV game shows — such as Deal or No Deal and The Price Is Right — to analyze decision-making, risk assessment, and behavioral anomalies that defy traditional economic theories. These shows provide repeated, controlled data on human behavior under pressure, helping researchers study risk-aversion, loss aversion, and game theory strategies.
One TV game show in particular, Deal or No Deal, which originally aired on NBC and has since appeared in reruns and many international versions, has been highlighted in The Wall Street Journal as a vivid illustration of investor-like behavior.
Research inspired by Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist and Nobel laureate in economics, shows that people feel the pain of losing a sure gain more strongly than the pleasure of similar potential gains, which helps explain contestants’ reluctance to give up guaranteed offers.
Richard Thaler’s work, including his paper “Gambling with House Money and Trying to Break Even,” shows that after big gains or losses people often take irrational risks either because they feel they are playing with “house money” or are trying desperately to get back to even, patterns that can be seen both in the game and in speculators in volatile stocks or cryptocurrencies.
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