Over the three decades between the urban crisis and the credit crisis, New York City revived its economy by making itself the preeminent center for global finance. Manhattan's streetscape and public places rose with the fortunes of the banks and their employees. Wall Street's mood came to define New York City's outlook. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Manhattan's landscape became a heady carnival of the costly and outrageously expensive. Developers and marketers transformed working neighborhoods into urban glamour zones. These days, however, Gotham is gloomy. Wall Street's mess has changed the city's commercial verve and street life. What once seemed to be an insatiable desire for luxury has diminished. There is, of course, still extraordinary wealth in Manhattan. But, for now, it has begun to recede from view. What did gilded age immersion in luxury do to urbanites' psychology? And what sentiments will fuel the consequences of the crisis? This article discusses how behavioral economics can offer some clues using experiments in controlled settings to shed light on irrational economic behavior, or behavior that at least contradicts standard economic definitions of rationality.