Behavioral Economics!
Running, Fast and Slow
This week’s video is an introduction to behavioral economics and some research associated with it. You’ll hear about how psychology affects running marathons and buying cars. Most importantly, you’ll learn about my failures as a high school athlete.
I’m thinking of doing another video comparing behavioral economics and classical economics. What do you think?
Behavioral Economics and Storming the Capitol
Watching the mob infiltrate the Capitol was a bizarre experience. Since my research focuses on Haiti, I follow some of the politics there, and something like Wednesday is not uncommon there. But in the US?? What’s going on?
One argument gets a little along the lines of behavioral economics. We have biases, we elect officials with those biases, and then we support them with our irrationality. You can read more about that in Bryan Caplan’s Myth of the Rational Voter.
Also, this was my favorite joke in the aftermath.
Streaming Wars Price Discrimination
Netflix was the king of streaming, but now other services are storming its castle. The newest entrant is Peacock, and their most fearsome fighter doesn’t dress as a Viking. Instead it is the humble businessman Michael Scott.
Peacock has the rights to The Office. They know it is a hot commodity, and now they are pricing the service based on how much you want to watch the show. Classic price discrimination.
