A public service announcement: MIT’s leading behavioural economist Dan Ariely, who was covered in this post, will be speaking at the LSE on Monday (probably today by the time you see this) March 17th at 18:30. Details here. I’ll be there I hope, so tap me on the shoulder if you pitch up too.

Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, has an interesting back-story, but here is a brief synopsis from his website:-

My immersive introduction to irrationality took place many years ago while I was overcoming injuries sustained in an explosion (here is a description of my experiences in the hospital). The range of treatments in the burn department, and particularly the daily “bath” made me face a variety of irrational behaviors that were immensely painful and persistent. Upon leaving the hospital, I wanted to understand how to better deliver painful and unavoidable treatments to patients so I began conducting research in this area (see picture below). After completing this initial research project, I became engrossed with the idea that we repeatedly and predictably make the wrong decisions in many aspects of our lives and that research could help change some of these patterns.”

Professor Ariely also blogs here.

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