Beyond Traditional Economics
Marcus's background spans behavioral psychology and quantitative economics – an unusual combination that proved essential for understanding why smart people make seemingly irrational financial choices during inflationary periods.
The breakthrough came in 2021 when his team realized that inflation affects different households in completely different ways, yet financial education treated everyone identically. A retired couple in Cairns experiences inflation differently than a young family in Melbourne, but existing educational materials ignored these differences entirely.
"We discovered that people don't struggle with inflation because they lack mathematical skills. They struggle because traditional education assumes everyone shops, saves, and spends the same way. That assumption is fundamentally flawed."
Our current research focuses on predictive modeling – helping people understand how inflation will likely affect their specific situation before it happens. It's early work, but initial results suggest we can improve financial preparedness by up to 60% when people understand their personal inflation profile.
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