behavioral ecnonomics

4 Stories

Experiment Finds More Data Doesn't Always Help Wage Gap

'Knowing this information doesn’t make it easier to advocate for myself'

(Newser) - For Jessica Kirkpatrick, an astrophysicist-turned-data-scientist, information helps bridge gaps. But when she tried to use it to narrow the gender wage gap in her new role as chief data scientist at Hired, she learned that more data isn't always helpful—and that's at least in part down to...

Why Cyclists Annoy You

 Why Cyclists Annoy You 
OPINION

Why Cyclists Annoy You

Even though most aren't assholes like Jim Saksa

(Newser) - Jim Saska freely admits he is an "asshole cyclist." "I'm that jerk weaving in and out of traffic, going the wrong way down a one-way street, and making a left on red. I'm truly a menace on the road," he writes on Slate . But...

Utilities Turn to Peer Pressure to Nudge Customers

Cut your energy use to keep up with Joneses

(Newser) - Would you be more likely to rein in your energy use if you knew it would save money, or if you knew your neighbors used less? Traditional economists assume the former—that consumers do what is in their best interest—but companies are ditching that notion in favor of behavioral...

Obama Brain Trust's Key 'Ism' Is Pragmatism

Team of behavioral economists bucks convention, ideology

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s brain trust leans heavily on behavioral economics, the New Republic reports, with academics who start small in their analyses—looking at everyday anomalies—and are relatively ideology-free pragmatists. From his top economic adviser to his health-care and Social Security aides, Obama is surrounded not by "big-think...

4 Stories