Cover of Worth the Risk

Worth the Risk

The Seven Myths that Keep Us from Taking the Chances We Need to Take

Allison Schrager

An economist on the seven ways people misprice risk, and why refusing to take any is itself a cost nobody counts.

Schrager is an economist who writes about risk for a living, and her argument here is that most people misprice it in the same predictable ways: treating any exposure as recklessness, mistaking inaction for safety, and confusing volatility with danger. She works through seven of those misconceptions with examples from finance, careers and ordinary decisions, and the through-line is that avoiding risk has costs nobody puts on the ledger.

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Recommended by 1 Person

Tyler Cowen

Allison Schrager is very good, including her new book Worth the Risk: The Seven Myths that Keep Us from Taking the Chances We Need to Take.

Article · June 2026

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