The Greater Good

Philosophy, psychology, and policy.

J.D. Trout Ph.D.

A Healthy Substitute for Willpower

Taxing and Drafting Our Way to Empathy?

Funny Money, Or: The Pleasures of Efficiency

Hey Commissioner... Hand Me That Predictive Tool (Part 2)

When I tutored Federal Penitentiary inmates decades ago, I made a big mistake. Part Two of "Hey Commissioner... Hand me that Predictive Tool" is about how mistakes like this happen, and what they mean.

Hey Commissioner... Hand Me That Predictive Tool

From Rags to Aristocracy

A single lifetime of hard work and personal sacrifice can create a legacy of inherited wealth lasting many generations. But this singular focus on the hero's rugged American individualism hides an important consequence of the story.

Do Economists Wear Seatbelts?

I once shared a cab to LaGuardia with a freshly minted Economics Ph.D. On the scent of fame, he identified himself as part of a new breed of “rock-and-roll economist,” prepared to draw an audience with findings that jar and awe.

Viral Ideas About Food Filth

Since my last post, "Peanut Butter and Paternalism", peanuts and the FDA have been much in the news. A New York Times Op-Ed yesterday revisits those very issues.

Peanut Butter and Paternalism

The Greater Good: Psychology and Social Policy