2015’s best movies (for behavioral economics)

In just four years, the Behavioral Economics Oscars, widely known as the Becons, have become the most eagerly awaited of the year-end movie awards (even if the highly influential awards committee consists of just one person). Finally, the wait is over.

n Best actress: Human beings show “status quo bias”: They tend to favor the situation in which they find themselves, and they’ll usually demand a lot to give it up. Even Jedi aren’t immune. As Luke Skywalker told Obi-Wan Kenobi, in a galaxy far, far away: “It’s not that I like the Empire; I hate it, but there’s nothing I can do about it right now.”

Daisy Ridley, the star of “Episode VII: The Force Awakens,” initially says no to Luke’s lightsaber. But by the end, she says yes, and she kicks some Dark Side butt. Win the Becon, she does.

n Best actor: Boxers from Philadelphia don’t usually win the big awards. But behavioral economists have emphasized that human beings often display “optimistic bias”: Young or old, they tend to have an inflated sense that things will work out for them.

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Playing a washed-up Rocky, training an improbable contender for the world title in “Creed,” Sylvester Stallone is a knockout.

n Best director: Behavioral economists have helped give rise to the field of neuroeconomics, which tries to explain people’s behavior through an understanding of the human brain. “Inside Out” isn’t exactly neuroeconomics, but it is all about the brain. Separate characters play Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear and Anger. To get it right, director Pete Docter did plenty of neuroscience homework, and it shows.

n Best picture: Behavioral economists are interested in the idea of “motivated reasoning,” which means that our desires affect what we believe. “Phoenix” is a stunning examination of motivated reasoning. Its spectacular star, Nina Hoss, plays a Holocaust survivor in postwar Berlin whose face was reconstructed after a bullet wound. She returns to her husband, who may have betrayed her, and who doesn’t recognize her – and doesn’t want to.

The film is about Nazism and its aftermath, but even more it’s about the lies we tell ourselves, and about how we can fail to see other people, including those we love. •

Cass R. Sunstein is a Bloomberg View columnist.

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