Carla Fried

Writer

About

Carla Fried is a freelance journalist who specializes in personal finance, with a keen interest in how behavioral issues impact consumer decisions. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Money magazine, Barron’s, Bloomberg, CNBC and Consumer Reports.

An illustration depicting greenwashing as a concept featuring part of a face and various objects floating around it.

Feature / Disclosure

Ending Greenwashing Requires an Understanding of Its Origins

Foundational research broadened the conversation from intentional deception to include outcomes of external pressures, organizational systems, and human bias

An illustration of a giant monitor with a brain inside and a person in shadow staring up at it.

Research Brief / Artificial Intelligence

AI, Asked for Life Advice for Young Adults, Doesn’t Just Echo What Humans Recommend

Left unsaid: The bot wasn’t very confident in its own advice

Research Brief / Diversity

Diversity Initiatives, Under Political Attack, Need a New Training Regimen

Researchers recommend eliciting and acknowledging the fears some employees have, but no retreat from DEI goals

Research Question / Banking

Bank Holding Companies Meet Higher Capital Requirements By Weakening Their Nonbank Subsidiaries

Rather than sell stock, they shift capital from other units to banks, satisfying the letter of the law, if not its spirit

Research Question / Entrepreneurship

Founding a Substantial Business Builds Wealth, But Those Who Aren’t Born Well-to-Do Seldom Attempt It

The few born into poor families who own an incorporated business see wealth gains similar to entrepreneurs from privileged backgrounds

Research Brief / Artificial Intelligence

The Declining Power of Your Human Capital in the Age of AI

Where AI can do the heavy lifting, choice of freelancers is now driven more by price and less by experience

Research Question / Economics

Providing Paid Parental Leave Typically Costs Employers Less Than Replacing Workers Who Quit

Custom database tracks movement of 5.3 million workers, reveals unappreciated economics of little-offered benefit

Research Brief / Politics

Reducing Partisan Hostility Can Be Surprisingly Simple

Megastudy: strategies reduce political animosity, but don't necessarily improve — and may harm — commitment to democratic principles

Feature / Retirement Planning

Annuities Turn Savings Into Income – a Must for Retirees – But They’re Unpopular. That Puzzle Now Seems Solvable

Smarter products and policies can connect wary investors to lifetime income

Research Brief / Home Mortgages

Why Lenders Needlessly Deny Tens of Thousands of Mortgage Applications

They hire remote: Loan officers in lower-wage areas lack knowledge about distant markets with strongest loan demand

Research Brief / Taxes

Property Taxes to Fund Schools: Households With Enrolled Children Protest Levies Less Often

When people learn the actual portion of taxes spent on schools, tax protests by parents fall, but protests by nonparents rise

Research Brief / Politics

A Puzzle for US Politics: Slim Majorities in Washington, Wide Vote Margins Back Home

Improved voter targeting and the rise of nationalized campaigns may help explain this disconnect

Research Brief / Behavioral Decision Making

Cultural Norms, From Long Ago, Persist Even as They Clash With a Modern World

The fix is not to dismiss them, but to work with them

Research Question / Nudges

Household Waste Reduction Gets a Lot of Study — But Institutional Settings Are the Bigger Opportunities

Growing tension between behavioral research focused on the individual and the study of societal systems

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