Behavioral Economics

When we are hurt we can go through a variety of unexpressed or expressed emotions, especially if the person has passed on..... The longer we leave them untapped, untouched and unexpressed the deeper our pain and more difficult it becomes. How then do we let go so we can forgive? Read More

I've been reading a lot of John Kenneth Galbraith recently. Galbraith, the economist and Kennedy confidante, died a few years ago at a ripe age, soon thereafter followed by his right-wing opponent and friend William Buckley. It seems to me that in the age of the talking heads, we have no one even approaching the stature of Galbraith or Buckley, on either left or right. Read More

What's Lady Gaga's success got to do with Persuasion?  Everything. Read More

One of the recurring themes of this blog has been the basic human tendency to overlook the external forces that shape our lives. We prefer to think of the social universe as a predictable and orderly place. It's a reassuring notion in a world that otherwise can seem disconcertingly random. And it's also why we're so down on luck–why we don't cotton too well to the suggestion that chance dictates important outcomes in life. Read More

In many professions, doing some work for free is part of the deal. A professor recently told me that academics often say they get paid to teach, while research--mostly unpaid--is for fun. "We're in it for the fame," the professor joked. Read More

I came here to exercise but it's definitely not working. The gym's owner keeps coming over to talk to me about God. He's born again. He asked me what I'm listening to and like a fool I told him it's a book about Darwin.

"Let me ask you this," he say. "If we came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?" Read More

There is a saying to that out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom. Read More

One of the most resonant quotes of the ongoing financial crisis was actually uttered 77 years ago, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt assured Americans during his first inaugural address, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Read More

If Apple's tablet is going to be the New New Thing it needs software to create the Moving Book. Read More