Learning is a social activity

Abstract

Purpose

Learning often requires little or no expenditure in income; its real cost is that it takes time. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

Since time is scarce, most people normally decide not to learn about many aspects of modern life, but rather to specialise on certain limited areas. When a matter arises outside our specialisation, we tend to follow others whose narratives we trust.

Findings

So, learning in many cases arises from social interaction, not from individual study. Consequently, informational contagion is baked into our social and economic systems.

Originality/value

Treating time, not income or wealth, as the ultimate constraint improves analysis of the learning process, clarifying its essential social nature.

Citation

Goodhart, C. (2020), "Learning is a social activity", Review of Behavioral Finance, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 21-25. https://doi.org/10.1108/RBF-10-2019-0149