Gerd Gigerenzer has made some important contributions to the study of decision-making. As someone who has been educated in the US system (at least for my PhD) I find it interesting that he largely rejects that approach. He, often correctly, makes the point that a lot of tests of decision-making set those being tested up…
Category: Decision Making
Believing In Responsibility And Systemic Problems
It is popular, particularly in left-wing circles, to note the presence of systemic problems. When you know a bit about how humans behave this makes a lot of sense. We tend to adapt to the situation we are in. Economic models help drive action. Similarly, you will often see organizations “dictating” the way people in…
Ambition To Improve The World
Rutger Bregman’s book, Moral Ambition tells us to aim higher. Why not have an ambition to improve the world? People have achieved amazing things in the past and there is no reason why we can’t make stunning progress again. Ambition Isn’t Bad In making the world better it helps to have ambition. That ambition needs…
Strong States Help Markets To Thrive
Rebecca Henderson, a Harvard business professor, writes about the need for business to become better than it is currently. She has a great book from 2020 on this. (The book is well worth a read, apart from a strange metaphysical bit at the end which was badly in need of an editor to say, “no…
Cliches About Disruption Aren’t Public Policy Advice
In my last post I noted that I worked at the Labour Party during Tony Blair’s time. He is easily the best UK prime minister of my lifetime, so I really wanted to be positive about his institute’s report on climate change. The approaches outlined are quite sensible, but the overall report is just plain…
It Isn’t Good Enough To Be Just Against Things
Ezra Klein‘s and Derek Thompson‘s Abundance tackles how those who believe that the world can be better have to achieve more. It isn’t good enough to be just against things, i.e., stopping things getting worse. To make the world better, you need to be for positive progress. What you want also needs to be deliverable on a…
IRS Agents Deserve Our Thanks
The USA has a history of not liking taxation much. There are plenty of reasons not to like the way the US does its taxation. US taxes appear complex, unnecessarily time consuming, and occasionally a bit random. And that is without considering the more controversial issue of whether they are ‘fair’. The US government, and…
Positive Results From Mixed Motives
One challenge I see in the world of sustainability is the assumption that only perfect motives will lead to good results. While perfect motives are a great thing, if we wait around to find them we won’t get very far. We should welcome positive results from mixed motives. After all, it is really the positive…
Change Brands
Chris Baker has a great book, called Obsolete, which focuses on Change Brands. The book discusses how these innovative small brands can help drive towards a more sustainable society. Change Brands The idea of a change brands is similar to a challenger brand but with added purpose. The change brand is a small player attempting…
Do You Really Need A Dodgy Historical Example?
I initially trained as a historian (my Master of Arts is in Hellenistic Studies — the period just after Alexander the Great). As such, I’m fascinated by appeals to history to justify ideas in modern life. They can often be fun to read about; after all there are some great stories in history. The challenge…
