Three reasons why a little extra optimism is a good thing

Cade Massey in Qn:

There is a fairly widely held belief among some researchers that some optimism is good. It's a little bit like red wine: In moderate amounts, it's good for you.

There are a number of reasons why it might be good to be optimistically biased. For example, if people are by nature a little too risk-averse, a little optimism helps counterbalance that, gets them to take a few risks they might not otherwise.

Another reason is that there is, in economic-speak, positive utility from...