Interesting points from Scott Sumner:
Whenever I speak with non-economists, they almost always seem more enthusiastic when the discussion comes around to behavioral economics. “That’s what economists should focus on!” They all seem to think that economists assume too much rationality, and that we should switch to a more behavioral approach. But here’s the problem. Non-economists also tend to reject the central ideas of basic economics, and for reasons that are not well justified. For the economics profession, our “value added” comes not from spoon feeding behavioral theories that the public is already inclined to accept, rather it is in teaching well-established basic principles of which the public is highly skeptical. Thus we should try to discourage people from believing in the following popular myths:
1. People don’t respond very strongly to economic incentives. (I.e., the demand for life-saving drugs is very inelastic.)
2. Imported goods, immigrant labor, and automation all tend to increase the unemployment rate.
3. Most companies have a lot of control over prices. (I.e. oil companies set prices, not “the market”.)
4. Policy disputes over taxes and regulations are best thought of in terms of who gains and who loses.
5. Experts are smarter than the crowd.
6. Speculators make market prices more unstable.
7. Price gouging hurts consumers.
8. Rent controls help tenants.
These myths are all widely believed by the general public. Teaching behavioral economics is not a good way to get people to “think like an economist”, indeed it gets in the way. Our primary goal should not be to add new information, it should be to have people unlearn false ideasabout the world. I’m not knowledgeable enough to have a good overview of the utility of behavioral economics. But even if it is useful it doesn’t really belong in a principles of economics course, except as a way of briefly acknowledging that the rational choice model is a useful fiction and not a perfect description of human behavior. We first need to teach basic economic principles.
https://www.econlib.org/lets-not-emphasize-behavioral-economics/