Daniel McFadden: Understanding better how people really make choices

"Brain science – or what economists called neuroeconomics – is perhaps the most live area. In particular it has identified reward structures and neurotransmitters in the brain, and the impact of choice problems on the brain in the presence of experimental treatments. He said:
“The hedonic treadmill we are on can be characterised as not the pursuit happiness but the happiness of pursuit. That’s what that people really care about.”

...The classical economic of choice is therefore far too simple as it does not capture what goes on in people’s brain when they make choices. “It is also much too static to capture the sensitivity and dynamics of the process,” he said.

However he said that welfare economists based on neurological measures of utility and brain functioning was coming. “But we are not there yet. Wait for it – but even better get involved in the types of research and the bridge between economics and other disciplines and play a role in making this come true.”"

See the bottom of this link for a video of his 30min talk