Tag Archives: behavioral economics

Would the Founding Fathers Approve of a Sugar Tax?

Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2013

Recently Mayor Michael Bloomberg learned that his Big Gulp ban had been blocked by a state Supreme Court judge for arbitrarily targeting these consumer goods without a legal rationale.  Determined to combat the obesity epidemic, Bloomberg will no doubt appeal this … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioral Economics and Public Policy | Tagged ,

Will Consumers Be Able to Understand Health Exchanges

Posted on Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Now that states have decided what they are going to do about health insurance exchanges—those new shopping carts created by Obamacare to help consumers find health insurance who do not get it through their employers—the really tough part begins.  State … Continue reading →

Posted in Health Policy | Tagged , , ,

What Bracketology Teaches Us About Banking

Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2013

A dozen years ago, my wife filled out an NCAA bracket on a popular website.  Out of more than 1 million entries, she finished somewhere around 17th. Think about it: 17th out of a million.  Clearly I married up!  I … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioral Economics and Public Policy | Tagged ,

Behavioral Economics in the Bathroom?

Posted on Friday, March 1, 2013

One of the dangers of studying behavioral economics and psychology is that the ideas follow you around pretty much everywhere you go.  I was reminded of that when some of my students came back from a mid-class bathroom break to … Continue reading →

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Are You Smarter than a Radiologist?

Posted on Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Notice anything unusual about this CT scan? On the upper right side is an image of a gorilla. According to a new study, 83% of radiologists missed this image. They had been looking through a series of scans, looking for … Continue reading →

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What Obese People Can Learn from Pigeons

Posted on Friday, January 18, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EjJsPylEOY”>video

In a 1967 experiment, psychologists trained pigeons to peck a red key to get food.  (Pigeons were huge back then, research wise!)  Then they tested whether the pigeons could learn to delay gratification.  They set up the pecking booth so … Continue reading →

Posted in Health & Well-being | Tagged ,

So Many Medicare Plans That People Want to Stay Put!

Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Republicans and Democrats agree that Medicare is in trouble – that if its costs keep rising faster than inflation, we will face insurmountable federal budget deficits. They also agree that the problem can be fixed. But that is where their … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioral Economics and Public Policy, Health Policy | Tagged , , ,

Is Prostate Cancer Screening Truly Harmful?

Posted on Friday, May 25, 2012

Dr. Timothy Wilt, a member of the United States Preventive Services Task Force, stood in front of the American Urological Association audience and explained why the task force could not recommend that men undergo routine PSA screening. At most, he explained, the test had been shown to benefit one out of 1000 men.

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Posted in Medical Decision Making | Tagged ,