Tag Archives: Brexit

Unthinkable

Posted on April 5, 2019 by koenfucius

Be careful when you label a possibility ahead of you as unimaginable: your imagination may well be tested to destruction Have you ever attempted to log on to a website you rarely use, only to find that the password you … Continue reading →

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Don’t tell me what you don’t want

Posted on December 7, 2018 by koenfucius

When rejecting something is not enough “Tell me what you want, what you really, really want”, the Spice Girls sang in their catchy hit Wannabe, 22 years ago. They were not (to the best of my knowledge) a bunch of … Continue reading →

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The immaterial economy

Posted on January 12, 2018 by koenfucius

(featured image credit: torstensimon) The peculiarly human nature of economics On Wednesday 10 January Philip Hammond, the UK’s chancellor of the exchequer, and his cabinet colleague David Davis, the secretary for Exiting the EU, flew to Germany. The aim of their … Continue reading →

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What do we want? Control!

Posted on August 4, 2017 by koenfucius

(image credit: Sarah Ross/CC) Control and freedom of choice are important to us, and we are prepared to pay real money for it. But things are not always that simple… ‘A la carte’ – a posh French phrase that implies something … Continue reading →

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Too much commitment is bad news

Posted on April 28, 2017 by koenfucius

Featured image via ytimg.com What can go wrong when tenacity goes too far People who keep going in the face of adversity speak to our emotions and our imagination like few other things do. Inspirational books are often written by (or … Continue reading →

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The Big Yellow Taxi Fallacy

Posted on March 31, 2017 by koenfucius

(featured image: FHG Photo cc2.0) Could there be such a thing as the sunk benefit fallacy alongside the sunk cost one? Wednesday 29 March 2017 was a day of celebration for some, and a day of deep sadness for others. … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics, Cognitive biases and fallacies, politics | Tagged | 3 Comments

The largest anchor ever

Posted on March 3, 2017 by koenfucius

(Featured image: clmper) How do we know what is a reasonable amount of money to pay? How much would a rational person be prepared to pay for, say, a cauliflower? They’d go down the ranking of all possible purchases, and for … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics, Cognitive biases and fallacies, Economics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The diversity trade-off

Posted on January 6, 2017 by koenfucius

Is diversity in groups and teams an absolute good? Earlier this week Sir Ivan Rogers, the British ambassador to the European Union, resigned over a lingering conflict with the government around the approach to the imminent departure of the UK … Continue reading →

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The deceitfulness of the “will of the people”

Posted on December 2, 2016 by koenfucius

(credit: eak_kkk/pixabay) A democracy should be guided by what its citizens want, not  by a caricature constructed by politicians This time of the year, many children are writing their letters to Santa Claus, emphasizing how good they’ve been, and setting out … Continue reading →

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CETA and the two conflicting ideas

Posted on October 28, 2016 by koenfucius

A great American writer hands us an instrument to combat pernicious cognitive biases Having spent nearly half my life living abroad, I have come to accept that my native country is small and not very significant. Sure, a few of … Continue reading →

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