Interesting Government Nudge
Do you think this will work to get people to stop texting and driving?

Do you think this will work to get people to stop texting and driving?

This week’s version of John McCain — the populist version — is blaming our current, um, situation on greed. (With such strong fundamentals in our economy, we couldn’t call it a crisis.) Last week’s John McCain, and the one from the week before that, and the week before that, and the one who has served…
It all comes down to willpower, right? Strength of purpose. Muster the resolve to skip dessert, and you have a shot at losing that spare tire hanging off your belly. Succumb to your temptations, however, and you are simply being weak. But is it just weakness that causes us to overeat? A study in Psychological Science suggests…
A song comes through your earbuds: good rhythm, clever lyrics, pleasing melody. You know whether you like the song, right? Maybe not. A series of studies using brain imaging raise the possibility that sometimes we think we like or dislike things, but our brains know better. I will explain what I mean, by describing one of…
Recently, I wrote about relative wealth and happiness. A new NBER paper, by Stevenson and Wolfers, seems to belie this view. It shows a sharp increase in happiness with increasing income: But these data are consistent with the idea that relative wealth plays an important role in happiness. Americans are much wealthier now than they…
Pizza is pizza, and a full stomach is a full stomach. But when restaurants slice pizza into smaller pieces, you are probably likely to consume less pizza:
My son was underperforming at school, and I was gently encouraging him to try harder (if gesticulating like an over caffeinated Italian qualifies as gentle encouragement). He could not understand why I was upset: “Dad, most of my friends are doing drugs and engaging in unprotected sex. You should be rewarding me for being such…