Blog

Thoughts and insights from our work applying behavioral science to social problems.

Making Financial Literacy Stick

Millions of people carry huge credit card balances. Is it because they don’t understand the costs? Millions more don’t set aside money in a retirement account. Do they not understand the benefits? The conventional answer to both questions is yes. The conventional response is to offer them personal finance 101. Building financial literacy is a […]

Behavioral Economics and the Energy Efficiency Paradox

Spend enough time working on energy efficiency in the U.S. and you will eventually arrive at a curious fact. Despite the best efforts of government to encourage conservation, Americans leave an estimated $130 billion on the table every year in energy-saving opportunities. That’s more than the operating budget of every federal department except for defense. […]

A Chat About Behavioral Economics

One from the archives: back in 2010, ideas42 co-founder Sendhil Mullainathan and New York University’s Glenn Loury had a wide-ranging discussion about behavioral economics, which you can listen to here. Lots of food for thought in there, including the behavioral economics of the snooze button, why single mothers are like air-traffic controllers, and sundry other […]