The 3 June 2025, as part of the 26th edition of the Milanesiana conceived and directed by Elisabetta Sgarbi, opens in Milan, at the Pinacoteca di Brera, the exhibition Happy Birthday Linus (1965–2025: 60 years of author comics in Milan) with homage to the cartoonist, Italian cartoonist and satirist Altan.
An event that celebrates the historic magazine Linus, nata nel 1965 and who brought the stripes of the Peanuts, together with many other protagonists of international comics. Among the covers on display, those dedicated to Charlie Brown stand out, Snoopy and the rest of the gang, characters who were able to describe human frailties with irony and depth.
But why write about Peanuts on an economics blog?
We find the answer in the book of Professor Matteo Motterlini, Psycho-economy of Charlie Brown. Strategy for a happier society – Amazon affiliate link -. The author, expert in behavioral economics, uses the adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends to explain how our economic decisions are often driven by emotions, insecurities and cognitive biases.
Charlie Brown and economic irrationality
Professor Motterlini starts from a fundamental assumption: human beings are not rational in their economic choices. Just like Charlie Brown, who persists in kicking the ball that Lucy always takes away from him at the last moment, us too we repeat predictable mistakes in our financial decisions.
We are insecure, influenced and often lazy, just like Schulz's characters.
The book proposes three strategies to improve our choices:
1. Create a more transparent and healthy environment of choice: from clearer bills to smart thermostats, up to healthier school canteens.
2. Base economic policies on concrete data: avoiding decisions dictated by ideology or improvisation.
3. Apply the “Charlie Brown rules” in everyday life: learning to recognize our mistakes and adopting strategies to avoid them.
A more humane economy
The Milanese exhibition on Peanuts which will be open until next year 9 September offers us the perfect opportunity to reflect on these issues. Charlie Brown, with its eternal hope and its recurring failures, teaches us that the economy is not just numbers and graphs, but also emotions, daily habits and choices. Motterlini invites us to rethink our relationship with money and society, proposing a more empathetic and aware model.
So all that remains is to go to Milan to visit the exhibition and read the book: it could change your way of seeing the economy... and life!
Alex Gaetani
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