The key assumption in neoclassical economic theory is that individuals are perfectly capable of taking rational decisions, translated into the homo economicus ideal-type. But what happens if individuals are not in perfect health and have their decision-making process threatened? Lately, much has been discussed about the rise in mental health issues, especially among youngsters. In […]
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Challenging the Broken-Window theory
How can we prevent individuals from urinating in open areas? In the Nudge TV show “The Power of Habit”, Sille Krukow, a behavioural expert based in Denmark, designed a nudge to help the Copenhagen Central Station. The problem they were faced with was that many men would urinate in hidden corners outside the building, despite […]
(Originally published in Slovak at mindworx.net) Most of us probably believe that we are in control of our own decisions. We have our opinions, beliefs and principles, we know what we like and dislike and we always decide in accordance with our preferences. However, this is not entirely true. Our brain reacts to all kinds […]
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Nudges and Social Norms
When are nudges most effective? A study by Pelle Guldborg Hansen, founder of the Danish Nudging Network, a non-profit organisation in Copenhagen, suggests that nudges may work only if they are in line with social norms. They tested two potential “social nudges” in partnership with the local government, both using symbols to try to influence […]
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Nudges for a healthy lifestyle – Part II
In the article “Nudges for a healthy lifestyle – Part I”, we talked about the nudges created by governments around the world related to improving people´s lifestyles. If you wonder why governments care about lifestyles of their citizens, the reason is mainly money. Unhealthy diet, frequent consumption of addictive substances (mainly alcohol or tobacco), and lack […]
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Increasing charitable giving
How can we nudge people to donate to charities? There are many ways to do so, but we would like to share one in particular which is very simple and surprisingly powerful. It seems that peer effects are an effective tool to change people’s behaviour. We want to do what people like us are doing. […]
Carrots or French fries? Fruit salad or a chocolate bar? These are the dilemmas that children face when choosing their meals in school lunchrooms. From convincing them that veggies will give them superpowers to ominous threats of what will happen to their bodies if they don’t eat healthy, there are few options left unexplored on how […]
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Nudges for a healthy lifestyle
Part I – Food related nudges Nowadays, non-communicable diseases (such as cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases or diabetes) are a serious problem, killing around 38 million people every year according to WHO. An interesting fact about them is that they are often caused by an unhealthy lifestyle – tobacco and alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet and […]
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Introduction to Behavioural Economics
What is behavioural economics (BE)? After World War II, human rationality became the core hypothesis of neo-classical economics. Even though “rationality” can have different meanings, it is very precisely defined for the economists – an assumption that we all maximise our utility functions. To this end, we take into account all the available information, think […]
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Welcome to the B.BIAS blog
This is the excerpt for your very first post.
B.BIAS 