Why do investors and business leaders continue to focus on the short-term and ignore the fact that businesses that think long-term end up more competitive and profitable? Behavioural economists believe they have the answer: our brains are hard-wired to think short-term because evolution has rewarded serial short-term successes such as avoiding predators and other dangers that faced our ancestors. Their survival ensured our existence – but predisposed us to the same kind of short-term thinking. As a result, even though our world is very different from theirs, long-term decision-making remains the exception, not the rule.
為何投資者與商業領袖仍然注重短期，卻忽視了這樣一個事實：著眼于長遠的企業最終會更具競爭力和盈利能力？行為經濟學家相信他們找到了答案：我們的大腦天生就會從短期著眼，因為進化過程褒獎了一系列短期成就，比如躲避捕食者和我們祖先面對的其它危險。他們的存活確保了我們的存在——但也留給了我們著眼于短期的相同傾向。結果，盡管我們的世界與他們的已經截然不同，但著眼于長期的決策依然是個例外，而沒有成為慣例。