What happens in our brains when we make an economic decision: Do
we coolly weigh alternatives to discern and act on our self-
interest? Generations of economists and policy makers have
thought so. But the traditional model of rational economic man
must now be reconciled with the discovery by neuroscientists
that when we make an economic decision the areas of our brain
associated with emotions are also active. Can rational economic
man be saved? If we were to nominate a poster boy for studies on
brain and behavior, the winner would be Phineas Gage. In the
summer of 1848, Gage was in charge of a crew laying track for
the Rutland & Burlington Railroad. One of his tasks was to use
gunpowder to blow up rock sections, and, in a tragic error, Gage
accidentally tapped on the gunpowder with an iron rod—and made
history. The explosion propelled the three-foot iron rod upward
through Gage’s cheek, then through his brain, and out the top of
his head. Gage not only survived, but also within minutes he was
speaking and walk