Content Type: Research Brief
The Surprising Relationship Between Empathic Skill — the Ability to Read Others’ Feelings — and One’s Own Happiness
A surer path to contentedness might be believing one possesses empathy, even if one doesn’t
The Surprising Power of Giving Up Choice Control
Abdicating a decision to someone else is viewed as an act of generosity that is handsomely rewarded
The Strange Case of the Missing Stock Market Return
Investors in leveraged companies take on extra risk, but research indicates they see no offsetting return
The Sad Fact of Reminiscing About Good Times
Happy memories of life-stage transitions can be bittersweet
The Role of Chance Encounters in Silicon Valley Innovation
Cellphone signals and patent citations approximate a theory’s long-sought paper trail
The Role of Board-of-Directors Pay in Effective Corporate Investing
A model juggles who should suffer when a project goes awry; job market prospects of the CEO; and the quality of information shared in the boardroom
The Relative Well-Being of Generations: An Explanation for Falling Interest Rates?
Doing worse than mom and dad is a drag on the entire economy
The Relationship Between Adoption of Rooftop Solar and Attachment to One’s Surroundings
Applying the behavioral concept of “place attachment” to the logistics of battling climate change
The Odd History of Gun Legislation Following Mass Shootings
GOP legislatures often made firearm laws looser after infamous events
The New Math for Reservoir Management Amid Climate Change
Sacramento River Basin serves as a test case for conserving water over unpredictable weather cycles
The More They Do It, the More Some People Prefer To Continue a Tedious Task
Even when there’s an easy-to-access better alternative, some prefer their rut
The Moat That Keeps Complex Asset Strategies Profitable
Andrea Eisfeldt finds that hedge funds with infrastructure to execute sophisticated arbitrage crowd out less-expert investors
The Malleability of Who Falls for Conspiracy Theories
It’s not just sheep — even go-getters can be susceptible when they feel less in control
The Makeup of Your Team Should Dictate How and When You Have Meetings
Team size and how staffer productivity varies are crucial considerations
The Long History of Middlemen Earning a Lucrative, Fixed Commission
Ad agencies’ 15% fee lasted 100 years longer than it might have
The Limited Payoff in Auto Insurance Advertising
Ads aimed at brand awareness are shown to be more effective