How Far Should Your Sympathies Go?
…offer money out of sympathy to provide them gains. Similar second-hand endowment effects exist, I believe, toward a variety of existing and proposed government programs to “help” citizens. (Hat tip:…
…offer money out of sympathy to provide them gains. Similar second-hand endowment effects exist, I believe, toward a variety of existing and proposed government programs to “help” citizens. (Hat tip:…
Also: What’s a food you love that seems disgusting to everyone else?…
…(better sex). Here’s a simple counter-example: when I get a cold, I take a multi-vitamin and I eat a few more veggies; you probably do something similar. But even as…
…string, with a fly at one end and a fool at the other. It was quoted in The Indicator, Oct. 27, 1819. A similar remark has also been attributed to…
…of lawsuit won’t make more doctors do their best to avoid seeing similar patients in the future. In which case a law designed to prevent discrimination will, yes, encourage discrimination….
That’s what some health officials are saying, but the data aren’t so clear. We look into what’s known (and not known) about the prevalence and effects of loneliness — including…
The U.S. is an outlier when it comes to policing, as evidenced by more than 1,000 fatal shootings by police each year. But we’re an outlier in other ways too:…
…your twin have both been arrested before. Lucky for you, your twin’s genetic markers are so similar to your own that no test can tell them apart. Since the DNA…
…Organization ruled that Network Telephone Services, the current owner of the domain, “offered all the appropriate merchandise to match its namesake.” Might “Freakonomics” one day face a similar challenge from…
…price-fixing. Word spread of an “egg trust.” Several states passed laws mandating labeling and time limits on cold-stored foods. A similar bill reached the U.S. Senate. In the winters of…
…won’t be seeing similar insurance pitches in the U.S., though maybe London could use them. Markl wonders why another type of insurance isn’t offered in the U.S. by now: the…
An election cycle brings about more than voting around the world. There are many odd by-products, often inspired by how the incentives line up for those in power.
Bapu Jena talks with a barber and a pharmacist whose study brought healthcare to Black men in Los Angeles who were getting haircuts. They discuss its impact on high blood…
Does having more health information actually change behavior? To test this question, host Bapu Jena explores whether doctors make healthier choices than the rest of us (and he fesses up…
Last week, the board upheld the ban of former President Donald Trump’s social media accounts. Sudhir talks to Noah Feldman, the constitutional law scholar who helped design this “supreme court”…
…banks to play ball. But the effect on lending is indirect — having a healthier-looking balance sheet does not compel a bank to lend — and will be small if…
He’s an economist who studies even weirder things than Steve. They discuss whether economics is the best of the social sciences, and why it’s a good idea to get a…
…need to look back to airline pre-deregulation, where airlines offered flights with one or more stops along the way. Sound familiar? It should: that’s how Southwest Airlines still operates. That’s…
…take into account regional differences in gradation, soils, and sub-grade. These factors all effect [sic] the cost of road construction …” (James and Jane had similar arguments.) And finally: Different…
A lot of the conventional wisdom in medicine is nothing more than hunch or wishful thinking. A new breed of data detectives is hoping to change that.
