&gt; That some&#x2F;most economists like to use. There is a huge field in economics (and econophysics and stuff) that focused on actual irrational behaviour (like trend-following, trying to time the market, predicting the &#x27;mood&#x27; of the market)<p>Behavioral economics is really interesting, yes, but this isn&#x27;t even an example of irrational behavior (in the technical meaning of &quot;rational&quot;).<p>What a consumer says they want isn&#x27;t necessarily the same as what they <i>do</i> want, as determined by their revealed preferences (ie, what they do with their actions). If <i>those</i> are self-consistent, the behavior is rational, even if it contradicts what they say they want.