The Discovery Channel’s annual “Shark Week” generates a short-term decline in visits to Florida beaches every year. The risk remains the same but bathers no longer swim. This is known as an “availability heuristic” – the subversion of rationality by easily available sensationalist images.
Comparisons can be drawn with the European commercial property markets of late, particularly in the UK. While price corrections were overdue, the extent of the falls suggests that irrational fear played a part.
