In 2012, I wrote a post titled Chimps 1, Humans 0 after seeing videos of a chimp named Ayumu. Ayumu could recall the location of numbers, in order, flashed briefly on a screen. Ayumu’s performance far exceeded my feeble attempts. See the below videos to get a sense of the task. The human Ayumu This … Read more
From a recent Journal of Political Economy paper by Stefano DellaVigna, Woojin Kim and Elizabeth Linos (2024): We study 30 US cities that ran 73 RCTs with a national nudge unit. Cities adopt a nudge treatment into their communications in 27% of the cases. We find that the strength of the evidence and key city … Read more
Each year I teach an undergraduate subject in behavioural economics. I have pulled together the notes for the subject into a website, which you can find here. The notes include the subject content, plus “exercises” that form the basis for the tutorials. If you work through the content, you’re effectively getting the same content as … Read more
I wrote this post based on notes for a proposed “lunch and learn” session. Illness got in the way, so rather than let those notes sit on the shelf, I’ve cleaned them up to share here. Many points were intended to be (provocative) conversation prompts rather than statements, so a few parts are light on … Read more
If you ever read a claim of an AI outperforming a human, dig into the performance data to check out the human benchmark. The mediocrity of the human is often more salient than the competence of the AI. The AI has an easy job. Here’s an example from a paper by Ayers and friends (2023). … Read more
The below are my speaking notes for a presentation in the Innovative methodologies in behavioural science session at BI Connect 2024, hosted by the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government (BETA) in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. The notes reflect many of the themes discussed in more detail in a previous post … Read more
In his book Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI, Ethan Mollick describes an experiment by Fabrizio Dell’Acqua: In a different paper, Fabrizio Dell’Acqua shows why relying too much on AI can backfire. He found that recruiters who used high-quality AI became lazy, careless, and less skilled in their own judgment. They missed out on some … Read more
Autumn is beautiful, but it also introduces some fall driving hazards… deer collisions being one of them. From October to December, mating and hunting season make deer go on the move. For drivers, that means you’re more likely to hit one. According to a 2022 study published in the journal Current Biology, about 2.1 million … Read more
November 14, 2024 by Mark Ferguson As someone who’s bought and managed many rental properties, including my recent “Ocho” 8-plex (which has been quite the adventure), I can tell you that analyzing multi-family properties requires a different approach than single-family homes. While single-family rentals can be great investments, multi-family properties offer unique advantages – and … Read more
img#bf_image-675e3ef43dde1 { width: 1100px; }@media screen and (max-width: 768px) { img#bf_image-675e3ef43dde1 { width: 100vw; } }Before each winter, business owners should spend time preparing to protect their property and operations from the challenges brought by cold weather, snow and ice. Winterizing your business is not just about staying warm—it’s about safeguarding your assets and minimizing … Read more