Reader Brandon asks: Assuming you have watched the documentary by now, do you care to offer any sort of critique/promotion of the movie? (For context, I had plugged the Freakonomics movie earlier this weekend.) Ask and you shall receive…to be precise, I ended up watching the movie with my best friend (and a giant orange [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Reader Questions'
Kids Do The Darndest Things, Freakonomics Edition…
September 6th, 2010 · 5 Comments
Books · Incentives · Reader Questions · Uncategorizable
Tags: Books · Incentives · Reader Questions · Uncategorizable
Reader Question: Is (Behavioral) Economics Behaving Badly?
July 20th, 2010 · 21 Comments
Behavioral Econ · Policy · Reader Questions
A number of readers emailed, tweeted, sent carrier pigeons, etc. to ask what I had to say regarding a recent NYT op-ed piece by George Loewenstein and Peter Ubel that discusses the limitations of using behavioral economics to drive policy. The authors summarize their central thesis as follows: But the field has its limits. As [...]
Tags: Behavioral Econ · Policy · Reader Questions
Reader Question: So What’s Up With This Strasburg Kid?
June 8th, 2010 · 14 Comments
Behavioral Econ · Buyer Beware · Reader Questions · Sports
Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the exact wording of the question, but it’s what everyone seems to be asking nowadays…reader Seth writes: I had a topic for you to address that I thought might be good for someone with a behavioral econ background. Tonight is Stephen Strasburg’s MLB debut (#1 uber prospect) for the Nationals. [...]
Tags: Behavioral Econ · Buyer Beware · Reader Questions · Sports
Reader Question: How Do I Become A Behavioral Economics Nerd?
May 25th, 2010 · 9 Comments
Behavioral Econ · Reader Questions
A reader writes: I’m a grad student at Georgetown University, where I’m in the dual masters in public policy/masters in economics program. As part of that program, I took the first year PhD sequence in the econ department. We used the usual texts for micro, macro, and metrics, but we didn’t really talk about behavioral [...]
Tags: Behavioral Econ · Reader Questions
Reader Question: So Should I Just FedEx My Luggage Now?
May 19th, 2010 · 10 Comments
Behavioral Econ · Buyer Beware · Decision Making · Policy · Reader Questions
I’ve gotten a few requests for comment on the whole “airlines now charging customers to breathe on their airplanes” issue, so I will give a bit of an economist’s take on the matter here. First, a recap for those of you who, unlike me, haven’t been watching the airline industry with baited breath to see [...]
Tags: Behavioral Econ · Buyer Beware · Decision Making · Policy · Reader Questions