What does it take to end conspicuous consumption? Conspicuous thrift, of course. A recent article in The New York Times suggests that pinching pennies is chic. This is a great example of the power of social norms… and the...
Author - Bob
As reported in the Imperial Valley News (out in California), the new administration is keen on applying behavioral economics and is targeting a chunk of the stimulus package in that direction. Key quote: Adding a perspective on...
Right there on page 37 of the President’s Fiscal Year 2010 Budget: The President’s 2010 Budget lays the groundwork for the future establishment of a system of automatic workplace pensions, on top of and clearly outside...
The New York Times has an interesting interactive map showing unemployment rates by county for the entire United States, using December 2008 data. Although the rates vary dramatically — Imperial County, California comes...
Sunday’s New York Times has a piece on Google’s Marissa Meyer, an engineer, designer, and Silicon Valley celebrity. There’s a nugget in this article about how seriously Google takes the little things and how evidence...
Justin Wolpers at Freakonomics is optimistic on the long-term health of macroeconomic modeling… if it captures psychology of behavior and differences between individuals (i.e., behavioral economics and segmentation). As a...
The New York Times reports that NY State Medicaid recipients fail to re-enroll for health coverage due to “daunting paperwork and other obstacles.” We know that hyperbolic discounting means that immediate...
Information markets have demonstrated the ability to outperform both pundits and polls. The idea is that noisy beliefs cancel each other out, leading to a better estimate from the group than from an individual — and that...
Daniel Hamermesh suggests on Freakonomics that our aversion to losses is so strong that we feel it… even when the losses accrue to others. I am sympathetic; and I, and other taxpayers, am being asked to provide relief in one...
In the November 2008 issue of The Atlantic, Paul Bloom offers an interesting article on his “community of selves” theory of the brain. Here’s an example of what he has in mind. Late at night, when deciding not to bother...
