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Public lecture by Prof. Filip Matějka: Society in the Age of Inattention

21 October, 2025

How do we make decisions in a world flooded with information? On October 20, 2025, Professor Filip Matějka explored this question during his public lecture at CERGE-EI, where he discussed his influential research on rational inattention.

How does inattention affect markets, companies, elections, and economic policy? These were among the questions addressed in his lecture. The event was held at CERGE-EI in collaboration with the Neuron Foundation, which awarded Matějka the Neuron Prize in 2016.

Matějka explained why research into rational inattention is essential for understanding human behavior today and offered recommendations relevant to economic policy and social practice.

Prof. Štěpán Jurajda from CERGE-EI remarked: “We live in a world overflowing with information, yet our attention is a scarce resource. Filip Matějka’s research helps us understand how this reality shapes our choices. His lecture has shown how economics can illuminate the way we think, act, and design better policies.”

The lecture followed up on Matějka’s article "Rational Inattention to Discrete Choices", the world’s most cited theoretical publication in economics in recent years, which expanded the concept of rational inattention. This concept has fundamentally changed the understanding of decision-making under conditions of limited attention and laid a new foundation for modern economic models.

Among the attendees were academics, policymakers, business leaders, journalists, and students. The photogallery is here.