> Most people don't think critically about their money
This is a bit of a naive viewpoint. Take your example of putting money in the stock market, regardless of its health and structure:
So I'll follow your advice and I'll think critically about it. I'm not an economist, but I'm technically and mathematically quite literate. And what I see is that historically, it's generally been a good idea to put money in the stock market. But of course that doesn't mean that will apply to the future.
Except, how can I tell whether the stock market is in good health? Even as an academic researcher, that is a really hard problem. The best I can do is look at the past, and then take a risk.
It's not my lack of critical thinking that is the problem. It's that it is a genuinely very hard problem.
This is a bit of a naive viewpoint. Take your example of putting money in the stock market, regardless of its health and structure:
So I'll follow your advice and I'll think critically about it. I'm not an economist, but I'm technically and mathematically quite literate. And what I see is that historically, it's generally been a good idea to put money in the stock market. But of course that doesn't mean that will apply to the future.
Except, how can I tell whether the stock market is in good health? Even as an academic researcher, that is a really hard problem. The best I can do is look at the past, and then take a risk.
It's not my lack of critical thinking that is the problem. It's that it is a genuinely very hard problem.