A space to explore, share and shape the issues facing social and behavioral scientists
The story of the book ‘Nudge’ offers insights into what can happen when research has an unpredictably large impact in the world of politics and policy
Behavioral economist John List talks about his work on field experiments and how research done in the natural world can lead to insights that otherwise might be hard to tease out in a lab.
If the promises of behavioral science can be believed, the UK government’s use of it would potentially minimize economic disruption while still tackling the crisis. This is because, in theory, behavioral science can achieve desirable behaviors without significantly impacting other day-to-day activities. However, the question is whether in practice behavioral science is helping to mitigate disaster.
The year 2017 turned out to be the start for mainstream behavioral economics after a leading practitioner in the field won a Nobel prize for his work. Throughout 2017, The Conversation asked experts in economics, psychology and other areas to address the power of this burgeoning field, as well as its potential for misuse. Here are some articles for your consideration.
Richard Thaler was not the first proponent of behavioral economics to be awarded a Nobel Prize, notes Sergey Popov. But Thaler’s star turn came when the Great Recession and it orgy or irrationality brought a lot of attention to research that extensively cites the University of Chicago’s economist’s 40-year-long academic career.
Richard H. Thaler, the University of Chicago economist whose contributions linking psychology to the ‘dismal science’ caught the public’s eye in his co-authored bestselling book Nudge, has received this year’s Nobel Prize in economic sciences.
Behavioral economics as a practice is here to stay, suggests a new report. Whether it remains a separate discipline or is absorbed by the other social sciences remains an open question.
When it comes to many of the big decisions faced by governments – and the private sector – behavioral science has more to offer than simple nudges.
Here’s a very ‘meta’ experiment for you: What behavioral insights can you gather at a global behavioral insights conference?
When governments nudge people to do healthful things it IS a little bit like 1984, says Mike Marinetto. But it’s more like a big brother than Big Brother, he adds.
In the past twenty years there has been a revolution in economics with the study not of how people would behave if they were perfectly rational, but of how they actually behave. At the vanguard of this movement is Robert Shiller of Yale University. He sits down with Nigel Warburton in this episode of the Social Science Bites podcast
New research from economists at the University of Nottingham suggests that incentive payments in the form of cash bonuses don’t […]
