It’s common to hear people complain about negative reviews, and they’re the ones that seem to garner all the press. If you’re a New Zealand music fan you’ll be familiar with Simon Sweetman’s famously scathing reviews of popular bands, for example. It’s also becoming much more common to hear of business collapsing at establishments that […]
We talked yesterday about the general issues that Wright and Ginsburg raise in their critique of behavioural economists. I don’t agree with their overall conclusions about the dangerous incoherency of the “behaviourists’ agenda”–if such a thing even exists–but they do make some excellent points about the limitations of the science as it stands. The first […]
With the Ports of Auckland industrial dispute and the layoffs in the public sector, restructuring in the face of financial pressure seems very fashionable at the moment. Executives are quick to point to the cost savings of having fewer staff, or the potential productivity improvements. As the government says: In a restricted funding environment we […]
Isn’t it wonderful to have role models around? Superstars in your firm that you can aspire to emulate! Well, maybe… Jennifer Brown recently published a paper suggesting that the presence of superstars in a competition actually decreases the effort that everyone else puts in to win. She uses data from Tiger Woods’ period of domination […]
I said last week that I’d come back to the critiques of bevhavioural economics but it’s obviously taken a while. Part of the reason is that I got wrapped up in this great essay by Joshua Wright and Douglas Ginsburg. It’s a blistering critique of the “behaviourist’s agenda” that you should really read if you’re […]
Suppose that a class-based system of privileges existed, in which you achieved high status through long participation in the rituals of the society. Those in the upper classes receive access to luxury goods not available to those of low status. Now suppose that the governing body of our society decided that luxury goods should really […]