Hilsenrath's argument on behavioral economics and market efficiency implications

¶ … Hilsenrath, suggests that there are several inferences, which can be drawn from the growing view that poorly informed investors can make markets less efficient than suggested by the "free market" theories of the 1980s. According to the author, the first major implication is that behaviorist theories were now gaining wider acceptance in mainstream economics. Second, the fact that investors can be irrational implies that governments may have to re-evaluate issues such as market regulation and Social Security privatization. Third, if markets are sometimes inefficient, corporations would now have to rethink the way they judge management performance and compensation so that executives become less focused on stock price movements. Fourth, the fact that irrational investor behavior can lead markets astray does not, however, mean that the global emphasis on free markets and open economies will be reversed. For, all it really signifies is that the efficient market theory does not hold valid in its purest form. Thus, in the final analysis, the author implies that the recent swing towards behaviorist views merely means that efficient market theorists are now seriously thinking about some of the issues raised by behaviorists.