Topic: Behavioral Economics
How Dollar Stores Contribute to Food Deserts
Expanding chains drive out independent grocers, reduce access to fresh produce
How Far Would You Go for an Ivy League Kid?
Study finds interest in screening embryos for education propensity, especially if everyone else is doing it
How Local Governance Came to England’s Economy
Nico Voigtländer found that to combat arbitrary taxes and corruption, merchants persuaded the king to cede control
How the Seemingly Rapid Advance of Democracy Goes Astray
Using voting records from a unique transition in the 19th-century Caribbean, Christian Dippel examines the embrace of self-interest by new legislators
How to Harness Individual Outrage for Lasting Social Change
A practical guide to enlisting, mobilizing and continually engaging like-minded people
How to Spot a Nudge Gone Rogue
Researchers find common warning signs in persuasion projects that went wrong
How-To Guide for Happiness Surveys, Which Increasingly Drive Public Policy
Advice for researchers aims to help improve both data collection and its interpretation
Ignorance — About One’s Investments, Anyway — Isn’t Always Bliss
Valentin Haddad’s research looks at the phenomenon of “information aversion,” when individual investors stop tracking their portfolios for fear of bad news
In China, Big Investors Have Brilliant Timing ― Or Do They Know Someone?
A scan of a million brokerage accounts finds the wealthy trade ahead of market-moving news
Instilling Ownership Feelings Leads to Greater Care of Common Resources
Research could assist stewardship of public lands
Institutions Make Mistakes: Which Should We Seek to Prevent; Which Ought We Fix After the Fact?
In experiments, people endorsed seemingly harsh policies — only to reverse course after the fact
Is Amazon’s Fake Review Response 94 Days Too Late?
Phony posts are largely very short-term campaigns
Is Anyone Happy about the College Textbook Market?
Buyers find the tomes heavy, costly and too frequently revised, while sellers might like to kill the used book market entirely
It’s OK if the Boss Earns More, but a Problem When Co-Workers Do
Study of a large corporation explores how salary comparisons affect employee behavior
Kids Who Moved from Public Housing More Likely to Vote as Adults
Demolition of Chicago projects dispersed thousands to other areas
Lack of Urgency Can Undermine a Popular Behavioral Nudge
Encouraging pre-commitment to a future behavior helps people do hard things — but it can backfire