Accused of price gouging after Harvey hit Texas, the businesses that raised prices might actually have been helping people.…
A Big Problem That Needs a Little Nudge
Whether increasing tax compliance or discouraging public urination, behavioral economics can encourage socially desirable behavior with the right nudges.…
Why Brand Loyalty is about More than Taste
Brand loyalty, preferring aspartame in Diet Pepsi and Coca-Cola’s original recipe can be explained by ideas from behavioral economics like status quo bias.…
Should Government Have a Nudge Team?
Is society better off when people stop smoking? Return to work sooner after a layoff? Pay their taxes on time? Using “nudge theory,” the UK’s Nudge Unit says it can help policymakers…
Using Beer as an Incentive
Reading about how a group in Amsterdam solved a public disturbance problem, I immediately thought about choice architecture. In Nudge, a Harvard Law Professor, Cass Sunstein, and a University of Chica…
Behavioral Economics: Better than a Psychiatrist
After reading Murder at the Margin, some of my students suggested in essays that we do not need a psychiatrist to explain human behavior. Instead, just ask a behavioral economist. Let’s give it …
Seeing the Elderly You
More of us are worried about financing retirement. But it’s not the “gloomy boomers” who said three years ago, at 50 or so, that they feared outliving their money. Now, according to …