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Tag Archives: behavioural economics

The sway of irrational behaviour

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: July 7, 2008
Yes, it is yet another book on irrational thinking. There must be money to be made in explaining the science of our faulty thinking in an easy to understand manner. In a new book, Sway: The Irressistible Pull of Irrational Behaviour, the authors Ori and Rom Brafman outline a series of irrational behaviours that remind us just how often decisions are made not on sound reasoning but on emotional impulses that can have critical consequences.
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Nudging in the right direction

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: May 12, 2008
Every day we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. Nudge is the latest in a series of books that detail the many ways in which our decision making is irrational, and what we can do about it.
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Predictably irrational

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: April 14, 2008
Irrational behavior is a part of human nature, but as MIT professor Dan Ariely has discovered in 20 years of researching behavioural economics, people tend to behave irrationally in a predictable fashion. Drawing on psychology and economics, he explains why patients get greater relief from a more expensive drug over its cheaper counterpart and why honest people may steal office supplies or communal food, but not money.
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Helping goalkeepers save penalties

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: December 16, 2007
In soccer penalty kicks, goalkeepers choose their action before they can clearly observe the kick direction. An analysis of 286 penalty kicks in top leagues and championships worldwide shows that given the probability distribution of kick direction, the optimal strategy for goalkeepers is to stay in the goal's centre. Goalkeepers, however, almost always jump right or left. Why?
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