I am going to try to have phone “office hours” with the help of Learn from my life

I am not sure sure how it will work out but I am looking forward to trying it out. If you have the time please join us…

Yesterday was Sumi’s (my lovely wife) and my 10 year wedding anniversary.

It took me a while to figure out what to do for this event and at the end I decided on two things: First, I booked us a night at the same bed & breakfast where we got married 10 years ago. This was a slightly risky move because there was a chance that the place will not be as wonderful or romantic as we remember, and this will spoil the wonderful memories we have from our wedding day. Luckily this was not the case, and the place was just as wonderful and romantic as we remembered. (more…)

Don’t take this too seriously!

Here is my attempt at a “Cosmo” like quiz for your rationality / irrationality.

Irrationally yours

Dan 

When the server drops off the check at the end of a meal, people often scramble to figure out the norms for payment. Do we each pay for what we ordered? Do we split the bill evenly even if John had that extra glass of wine and the crème brûlée?
Luckily, findings from behavioral economics can help answer this burning question. It turns out that one person should pay the entire bill, and that the person paying should alternate over time. Here is the reason: (more…)

Dear Irrational,

A practice I often noticed on the I-90 in New York State (Or I-25 where I now live) is that people speed on the highway until they see a police officer with a speed gun (or with flashing lights writing a ticket to some poor driver on the side of the road), and then they slow down and drive at the speed limit for a while. (more…)

The wonderful people from Radio Lab organized an event Thursday evening at a beach in NYC.  This was part of the World Science Festival and it was called: “You and Your Irrational Brain: An Evening of Experimentation Under the Stars.”

It was tremendously fun to hang out on the beach, drink beer, and talk about behavioral economics and mistakes people make in decisions (for some pictures and a more detailed report see this link).  When it was over, I was deeply disappointed.  

Look at the picture below.  Isn’t this the ideal setting to have a chat about science?  Maybe I will try to move my class next term to that wonderful beach (or maybe it was the beer).

My kids, Amit (5) and Neta (2, yesterday) …

The New York Times today had a story about Jennifer Buettner, who is trying to make a placebo pill for kids, but maybe for all of us.

Is this a good idea?

We know that in many cases placebos do work, and we also know that they have very few side effects — a point for placebo pills! (more…)

Imagine that you worked for me, and as your year-end bonus, I offered you a choice between $1,000 in cash or an all expense paid weekend in the Bahamas, also worth $1,000.

Which option would you chose? (more…)

Jennifer Sharpe knows how to sell Girl Scout cookies. In fact, she managed to sell 17.323 boxes for $3.50 each! (see full story)

As she said: “I know how to get people to buy more,” said Jennifer, a sophomore at Edsel Ford High School . “If they buy two boxes and they hand me a 10, I’d be like, ‘For 50 cents more, you can get three”

Why is this trick likely to work (it reminds me a bit of the movie paper moon)?  Why is it likely to work better than simply offering people to buy 3 packages for $10.50

First, it is possible that making an initial offer below $10 (compared to one above $10) causes more people to be willing to buy — so it increases the market size.

Second, it is possible that once people had out their $10 they don’t think about the change they are about to get and as a consequence Jennifer’s offer of “just another 50 cents” does not register as another $3.50 for another box!

In any case, I suspect that Jennifer’s trip to Europe (which is what she collected the money for) will give her new ideas about new approaches to framing.