Innnnnterrrrrresting!

[voluptuary_manque]

Could this have anything to do with us? Might it be a political approach we could all agree on?

 

[rgraham666]

I only recently discovered behavioural economics. And I wonder why it took so long to come into existence since, to me, it seems very obvious.

Then I recall that modern economics is born in The Enlightenment, where rationality became the only way to look at things.

I believe this marks a refreshing and important change in economics. It might even save us from ourselves.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Something has to!

 

[Stella_Omega]

lazy, busy, impulsive, inert, and irrational creatures highly susceptible to predictable biases and errors.

That would most certainly be me!

 

[sethp]

I think those are good ideas. This kind of thing is already being expoited by advertiser, marketers, communists, politicians etc. let's use this for good.

Love the fly in the toilet trick..

 

[rgraham666]

longstanding assumption of policy makers that the average person is capable of thinking like Albert Einstein, storing as much memory as IBM's Big Blue, and exercising the willpower of Mahatma Gandhi.

It isn't just the assumption of economists and political scientists. Most people assume this about themselves as well.

Maybe we should stop.

 

[3113]

Love the fly in the toilet trick..

Why are you guys aiming at flies? Do you usually have flies in your urinals that you aim to kill?

 

[sethp]

Why are you guys aiming at flies? Do you usually have flies in your urinals that you aim to kill?

you know guys.. we need something to aim at.. a little urine on the floor is no big deal for us.. yet horrifying for the women..who(and you know this is true) usually end up cleaning it up cause they can't take it anymore! lol

give us something to aim at ..and we're all over it! lol

 

[rgraham666]

Why are you guys aiming at flies? Do you usually have flies in your urinals that you aim to kill?

It's in our nature. We're always looking for targets of one sort or another.

 

[trysail]

"Behavioral economics" has been around for a long, long time. It's as old as "fear" and "greed." While it sounds simple to say "buy low," in practice it's extremely difficult for an individual to put into effect and all-but-impossible for a committee. I've always relied on "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds." Bargains exist for a reason— people are perfectly aware of well-reported problems. The trick is to have the training, experience and judgment that permit one to confidently focus on "intrinsic value" while ignoring conventional wisdom. As Bill Miller once (accurately) observed, "If it's in the newspaper, it's in the price." Boiled down to its simplest form— ya gotta buy stuff when nobody wants it.

If you don't know who you are, the stock market is an expensive place to find out. It's not a good place for those afflicted with co-dependency.

I give thanks for the "stupes" as it is they who create the bargains.

It's a well-known fact that the best businesses are ones that take advantage of human emotions. Take "college" athletics or professional athletics, for example. The operators of the "college" athletics racket are well aware that they can charge damn near anything because the customers are essentially deranged.

 

[Gizzmotick]

I think that behavioral economics could be a very good thing. My agency does a partial "opt-in" for our retirement plan, and I have found that after explaining that aspect of it, people are more likely to contribute.

I would also like to see a nudge aspect for how my agency deals with the public, that may make my job a touch easier. Who knows?.

But on the whole, I think that society can greatly benefit from some of the ideas presented by behavioral economics. I think that the stripes on the road in Chicago example is one of sheer brilliance, and should be used in many more places.

 

[Gizzmotick]

It's a well-known fact that the best businesses are ones that take advantage of human emotions. Take "college" athletics or professional athletics, for example. The operators of the "college" athletics racket are well aware that they can charge damn near anything because the customers are essentially deranged.

Depending on the school... that last statement isn't far off.

However, I prefer to see schools or teams who don't scalp their own fans just to make a buck. The true income for the stadiums is once the people are in the stands and buying concessions.

 

[oggbashan]

WalMart have been using this for years.

Woolworths have been using it even longer.

Positioning of products in supermarkets is a much studied technique.

It goes back even further. The Greeks built temples so that pillars appeared more solid and straight even though the eye distorts perspective.

Og

 

[DesertPirate]

Positioning of products in supermarkets is a much studied technique.
Og

Also very profitable!

They charge for those eyelevel shelves like you wouldn't believe.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Popular delusions are far from extraordinary, just saying.

 

[rgraham666]

It's why stock bubbles bubble, and burst.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

It's why stock bubbles bubble, and burst.

Watch the panic when crude bursts. Suppy and demand simply doesn't support the current price. It's all speculation.