Topic: Behavioral Economics
When Delayed Gratification Backfires
A self-imposed quest for a perfect time to enjoy an indulgence often means missing out on actually having a good experience
What’s in Your Social Media Feed?
On anime sites, what one’s friends are watching is the most persuasive prompt to engage
What Drives Engagement in $116 Billion Mobile Gaming Industry
Novelty and social connection boost time spent playing
We Think Illegal Products Are More Effective
Because they’re harder to get, we assume they’re more potent — and thus preferable over legal ones.
We Hate Crowds, But Fail to Strategize on Avoiding Them
When might most other people choose to visit the bank?
Voters Often Opt for Candidate They Expect to Win
The bandwagon effect boosts the top vote-getter in preliminary rounds
Using Ancestral Characteristics to Study Modern Economics
A database of pre-industrial sampling supports historical and ethnographic research
Unwelcome Gift Message: ‘I Know You Need Money’
The same gift, with a message on saving the recipient time, is more welcome
To Wall Street, There’s No Crisis Like a Banking Crisis
Tyler Muir finds that neither war nor deep recession darkens investor sentiment like sudden turmoil in the financial system
Through the Minimum Wage Looking Glass: Economic Consensus Unrealized
Researchers struggle with faulty study designs, flyspecking each other’s work, re-arguing decades of debate about jobs and income
Thinking Small Could Deliver Bigger Retirement Success for Gig Workers
Daily, weekly and monthly contribution schemes gauge behavior
The Unhappy Quest for a Happiness Index
Pushing aside GDP for a measure of human well-being turns out to be very, very difficult. Ask Dan Benjamin
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 Role of Chance Encounters in Silicon Valley Innovation
Cellphone signals and patent citations approximate a theory’s long-sought paper trail