Koen Smets – Medium

Koen Smets

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Best of Koenfucius 2023

My 10 most read posts of the past year

Jan 4, 2024

Best of Koenfucius 2023

Jan 4, 2024

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We are all economists

Mainstream and behavioural economics are two sides of the same coin

Jun 3, 2016

We are all economists

Jun 3, 2016

Do we really optimize?

The right decision is rarely the calculated, optimal one. Often, it defies calculation altogether

Jun 20

Alonso starting his daring overtake — view from his cockpit

Jun 20

Distorting loyalty — how group bias distorts moral judgment

We categorize people in groups to an extent that we do not necessarily appreciate, and this shapes (and dominates) how we see, and engage…

Jun 13

Two rugby teams

Jun 13

When things seem obvious, watch out for the intuitive plausibility trap

Some things just don’t need any proof — or at least, that is how it may seem. But even the blindingly obvious can be wrong

Jun 6

A lonely iceberg

Jun 6

Circumventing cost-benefit: why ‘irrational’ decisions might be right

Does rationality even make sense when we cannot measure upsides and downsides?

May 30

A set of scales thrown away with the waste paper

May 30

Evolutionary economics part 3 — The human touch

Human economics is rooted in the evolution of life, but also comprises truly novel deviations and extensions. In case we get carried away…

May 16

Adam Smith among Earth’s earliest bacteria

May 16

Evolutionary economics Part 2 — Within and between

Evolution has infused life with economic principles — not just in individual cells and in individual organisms’ relationships with each…

May 10

Evolutionary economics Part 2 — Within and between

May 10

Evolutionary economics — Part 1: Evolutionary origins of economic principles

That economics goes back further than the ‘father of economics’, Adam Smith, is not really contested. But might it go back way beyond the…

May 6

Adam Smith as bacteria in the primordial soup

May 6

The flipping point: when partisans change their minds

Extreme partisanship is the unconditional, unshakeable support of a person, group, party or cause. But is there really nothing that can…

May 2

An old-fashioned lightswitch

May 2

Koen Smets

Koen Smets

Accidental behavioural economist in search of wisdom using insights from (behavioural) economics in organization development. On Twitter/Bluesky as @koenfucius

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