Pretty much all our problems are behavioural…but does that mean the solutions are? — Could it be that very problem humans face, individually or collectively, is a behavioural problem? It sounds a bit grandiose. But when we exclude unexpected cosmic disasters and such like, it really seems as if pretty much every problem can be reduced to people (a) not doing something they should…

… because it is rare for just one thing to be different — You may have missed (or forgotten) it during the COVID-19 pandemic, but at the end of January 2021 Britain finally left the EU, more than four years after this step was decided in a referendum. In the midst of the disruption (not least to travel) that characterized this period, the…

Does our morality have roots in an economic phenomenon? — Imagine you’re back in elementary school. It’s the birthday of one of the kids in your class — the kid who has been pestering your little brother for weeks. The bully in question approaches your desk with a bag of candy from which everyone can grab a couple of sweets…

An accidental behavioural economist takes up the defence of Homo Economicus — Are people rational, or irrational? It depends. It certainly depends on exactly what you mean by ‘rational’ or ‘irrational’. You may very well on occasion have judged someone’s choices or behaviour as irrational (maybe even your own!), without referring to a clear, agreed definition. But I suspect it is not…

There are not many things that are exclusively associated with the human species, but I think I may have found one: the technicality — While we have no problem distinguishing a goldfinch from a blue whale, or a mosquito from a rhinoceros, we also have no problem grouping them into one single supercategory: the animals. Do humans belong there as well, or are there characteristics about our species that uniquely differentiate us from any…

Poor decision making comes in many guises, but there are three widespread causes that are often implicated — When did you last make a poor decision? I don’t mean unfortunate situations where you were simply unlucky (the kind of thing Alanis Morissette somewhat erroneously calls “ironic” in her eponymous hit). Even the best decisions can lead to an undesirable outcome due to the uncertainty that the future inevitably…

Valuing things is tricky, even if there is a price printed on it — Last weekend, my daughter and her husband had planned to go and see a performance by the Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop. Unfortunately, some unforeseen circumstances put a spanner in the works. (I have long wondered whether anyone ever invokes foreseen circumstances. But I digress.) The tickets could not be refunded…

Our sense of what is right and what is wrong has more power over us than we might imagine — Many of the decisions and choices we make are utilitarian in nature. When we buy something, even something inexpensive where we don’t consciously weigh up all the upsides and downsides, the ultimate decision tends to be driven by whether we believe we get good value for money. …

What we actually receive for the extra money we pay for next day delivery is not necessarily what we assume it is — The other day, it was my daughter’s birthday, and as we could not visit her on the day my other half ordered some letterbox flowers for her. (These are flowers still in bud, packed in a flat box that fits ordinary letterboxes. No, I didn’t know such a thing existed…