The final 60 second clip from the Open University: Rational Choice Theory.

Here are some posts that I have written on irrationality and how to cope with it:

• The Economic Theory Of Relativity (involving optical illusions and how the Economist takes advantage)
• The Psychology of Savings (involving chocolate cake and how to use laziness to your advantage)
• Insuring Yourself Against Aliens (which is an argument against human rationality if ever I saw one)

The point is: government policy is premised on humans being collectively rational when it counts.

The trouble is: when it counts, you can usually count on us going into collective panic.