Monthly Archives: October 2021

The good death

Posted on October 29, 2021 by koenfucius

Featured image: <verdiende rust.jpg> image: Martine/Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0) Decisions are a matter of trade-offs, and end-of-life decision-making is literally a matter of trading off life and death. But our society exhibits a status quo bias that raises big ethical … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics, Economics, Ethics, Philosophy, Psychology, Society | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Ethical liars

Posted on October 22, 2021 by koenfucius

(featured image: Will Temple/Flickr CC BY 2.0) Our morality is not quite so black-and-white as we sometimes like to believe One of my earliest memories, I must have been four or five, is when my mother, to her embarrassment, forgot … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics, Ethics, Morality, Psychology, Society | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Important futilities

Posted on October 15, 2021 by koenfucius

Sometimes what we do seems to be unduly influenced by what appears to be utterly futile. Is that as unwise as it seems? Last Saturday was Luka’s 6th birthday. We had some balloons to decorate the house, and for just … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics, Cognitive biases and fallacies, Economics, Emotions, Psychology | Tagged | Leave a comment

The relativity of mysterious overconfidence

Posted on October 8, 2021 by koenfucius

(featured image: kues1/Freepik) Both doubt and confidence have benefits, but is there anything worthwhile in overconfidence? It is the season of party conferences in Britain. Over the years I have lived here, my attitude towards them has evolved from interest … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics, Cognitive biases and fallacies, Emotions, Psychology | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Real prices can be about more than supply and demand

Posted on October 1, 2021 by koenfucius

(featured image via Twitter) How to turn an unfair price rise into a fair one This last week, the UK has been experiencing a freak petrol* crisis. A handful of filling stations on the south coast had run out of … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics, Cognitive biases and fallacies, Economics, Psychology | Tagged , , | Leave a comment