Highlighting Usach's commitment to solving real-world societal challenges through academic research, René Fernández Montt of the Faculty of Technology has published The Economics of the Brain: How Neuroeconomics Explains Human Behavior (ELIVA Press, 2026). The new book explores how neuroeconomics bridges cognitive science and economic decision-making.
“This work is not an abstract exercise, but rather a study that delves into the economic crises and anxieties faced by Ibero-American citizens. Furthermore, for our university, it reaffirms its role as a beacon of critical and applied thought, establishing its reputation not only as an academic institution but also as a cradle of new and necessary ways of understanding the complexity of the world,” stated the author.
The book addresses topics such as a critique of perfect rationality, the neuroanatomy of decision-making, and various key cognitive biases, including overconfidence, loss aversion, herd behavior, and the endowment effect.
It also analyzes the somatic marker hypothesis and the role of bodily signals in complex decision-making, as well as their application to economic crises on the continent, such as Argentina’s corralito and the real estate bubbles that affected various countries in the region.
“An economist needs to understand the brain for one fundamental reason: models fail because they ignore the person. Traditional economics assumed that the brain was a perfect calculator. However, we know that it is a survival machine that evolved in the jungle, not on the stock exchange,” the expert emphasized.
In addition, the economist—who holds a master’s degree in Clinical Neuropsychology—argues that understanding the brain allows for improved prediction of economic crises, explaining seemingly irrational behaviors as expressions of cognitive biases—such as loss aversion—rather than simply as calculation errors.
Likewise, Fernández Montt argues that this approach can contribute to the design of better financial education policies and, consequently, to a more human-centered economy.
“The central motivation was to document a recurring and empirically verifiable failure: traditional predictive models fail to explain the crises that cyclically affect Ibero-America. Bank runs, speculative bubbles, and crises of confidence are not anomalies; they are the rule. A piece of the puzzle was missing: the neurobiological basis of decision-making. The experience of Argentina’s ‘corralito,’ whose shadow still looms over the savings decisions of an entire generation, was a powerful catalyst,” he said.
Continental Crises
The book presents numerous real-world examples that highlight the importance of economists understanding how the human brain works.
The text raises the question of what the 1994 Mexican crisis, the 1999 crises in Brazil and Argentina, and the various real estate bubbles that have affected the region had in common. In this regard, Fernández Montt explains that the common thread is clear: the activation of a neurobiology of panic and euphoria that overrides rational calculation and generates herd behavior.
“It’s the ‘Tequila Effect,’ but understood from the perspective of the brain. The pattern is the same: a common trigger, a warning signal—whether it’s a fiscal deficit, an uncertain political context, or the devaluation of a neighboring economy. That’s when what I call the ‘amygdala hijack’ occurs: a signal triggers fear in investors’ brain circuits, and the emotional brain takes control,” explained the scholar.
He also adds that herd behavior—associated with the medial prefrontal cortex—promotes imitation and generates phenomena such as massive capital flight or real estate bubbles. In these scenarios, behaviors linked to the survival instinct predominate, without a thorough analysis of economic fundamentals, as does the fear of “missing out,” which drives the purchase of properties at inflated prices.
He also mentions the asymmetric processing of losses and gains, where the pain associated with losing capital or capital gains is experienced more intensely, leading to disproportionate perceptions of risk.
“In essence, the anatomy of every crisis is the same: a shock triggers a self-fulfilling prophecy of panic, where collective emotion overrides any financial calculation, whether in the Mexican foreign exchange market or in a trendy neighborhood in Santiago,” concluded Fernández Montt.