Perhaps you’ve heard the advice to avoid hospitals in July on account of the legions of just-graduated doctors who will kill you with their inexperience. Thus far, the claim, though plausible, remains unsubstantiated. However, a recent study showing a variation in mortality after…
In compliance with a federal integrity agreement, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer released details of its financial involvement with the medical community. According to the New York Times, the drug maker disclosed that it paid $20 million in consulting and speaking fees to…
According to an article in SmartMoney, as many as 48% of U.S. dentists have seen their profits plummet thanks to the recession. In and of itself, this isn’t a particularly remarkable statistic – after all, most of our wallets have taken a…
Over the years I’ve written all sorts of blog posts on dishonesty, and because the new book release, I want to repost an updated version of them to accompany. For the next few days I’ll post one every other day. Enjoy! Janet…
Sad story out in the New York Times describing growing concerns about texting while driving. In Britain, a woman was sentenced to a 21-month sentence after it was found that she had been texting while driving, which resulted in the death of…
How are people’s judgments affected when they learn of shocking news? How do they see the world differently? Gordon Closter, a student of mine, explores this topic in the latest Predictably Irrational Short Story. It can be found here.
Reflecting back on our recent economic history bring to my mind a two sad surprises. Even as a behavioral economist who generally believes in the prevalence of irrationality in our every day life, I place some stock in the main mechanism that…
It’s hard to displace a global economic crisis from headlining the news, but the pigs did it. A n variant of the H1N1 flu virus, associated in our lore with the 1918 flu pandemic, has jumped species and infected humans. There are…
There’s a phrase we hear all the time, and one that suggests something about our psychological makeup: we’re not just concerned with actions, but with their attendant mens rea – or lack thereof – as well. If it wasn’t intentional, then it’s…
Here’s a very interesting piece from the New York Times’ Review of Books: “Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption.” The basic story is that whereas only a few decades ago physicians generally lacked any lucrative ties to pharmaceutical companies, these…
