Intertemporal choice is one of the foundational models in economic theory. It sets the human lifetime in just two periods – today and tomorrow – to evaluate how people make choices over time. Generally, an individual can prefer to save money today and spend more tomorrow, or borrow today and spend less tomorrow. Quite often, […]
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The Sausage That Started a War
History is full of grand causes for conflict: rival empires, contested borders, the clash of civilizations. And then there’s Zurich in the 16th century, where Catholics and Protestants found themselves squaring off over… a sausage. Yes, a plump, greasy, perfectly ordinary wurst managed to become the spark for sectarian strife. If it sounds ridiculous, that’s […]
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The Crime We Don’t See
We’re the good guys. That’s what we’ve always told ourselves. During fascism, “we weren’t like the Germans.” When it comes to the mafia, “we’re not like the Sicilians.” The myth of the good Italian has followed us for nearly a century. But every myth has its cost. Today, while the mafia evolves, infiltrates, and thrives, […]
Article by Nika Vanadze Introduction In theory, public policy should be a rational exercise: gather evidence, assess alternatives, and implement the most effective and equitable solution. In practice, however, policies are shaped by people, and people are not always rational. All humans are influenced by some sort of cognitive biases that will change their behaviour, […]
When one thinks of gambling, the image of bustling casinos, lotteries, or betting on sports comes to mind. In recent years, it has become possible to wager on virtually anything — the next Pope, politics, or even the weather. The common thread? The relentless pursuit of the thrill. This expansion of the traditional notion of […]
Screams tore through the early morning silence of Queens, New York. Lights flickered on in nearby windows. Curtains shifted. 28 year old Kitty Genovese was witnessed by nearly 40 individuals being brutally attacked, stabbed and raped to death. And yet, while the attacker returned twice over the next 30 minutes, no one intervened until it […]
Even though most people have heard of the Nudge Theory at least once, it is not so common to come across a real life application of this principle. Nudge Theory, developed by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, is a behavioral economics concept that suggests subtle changes in how choices are presented can significantly influence people’s […]
Lately, every purchase feels a bit heavier than it should. You’re not buying much more than usual, but your bank balance seems to disappear faster. Maybe you’ve cut back on takeout, or started hesitating before grabbing your favorite snack, and yet things still don’t add up. That’s the strange part about inflation: inflation doesn’t just […]
The availability heuristic is a very powerful cognitive bias that influences the perception of political threats. It leads individuals to overestimate the probability of events by reflecting on how easily they can remember similar occurrences. Political leaders, when they manipulate this psychological process with messages intended to instill fear, can have an immense impact on […]
Nowadays, the threat of climate change is weighing on many people’s conscience, and the desire to live more sustainably is becoming increasingly more common across different generations. With this sentiment, the demand for environmentally friendly consumer goods is increasing faster than ever and as companies are reacting, some are engaging in unethical operations. Greenwashing, i.e. […]
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