Tag Archives: rationality

Like me

Posted on September 17, 2021 by koenfucius

(featured image: Goran Has/Flickr CC BY 2.0) Is it irrational to favour people with whom you have something important in common? Imagine the prime minister of your country is not someone you naturally align with: in fact, you’d rather see … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics, Emotions, politics, Psychology, Society | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Misunderstanding rationality

Posted on June 23, 2017 by koenfucius

(Featured image credit: Les Colporteurs CC0) It is tempting to equate ‘rational’ with ‘right’, and ‘irrational’ with ‘wrong’, but that is mistaken The lottery is sometimes called a tax on the stupid. The logic behind this opinion is that the … Continue reading →

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

The true meaning of a gift

Posted on December 16, 2016 by koenfucius

(featured image credit: pexels/pixabay) It’s not necessarily what is in the box that matters The season of goodwill and of finding suitable gifts for relatives and friends is upon us once again. It’s also the time of the year when economist … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Wisdom or certainty?

Posted on October 21, 2016 by koenfucius

(featured image credit: PeterKraayvanger/pixabay) Both wisdom and certainty are valuable, but if you have one, you can’t have the other Whenever we decide to spend money on something, we are doing what economists call allocating a scarce resource one way rather … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics, Philosophy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Useful ‘Nobel’ Economics? You bet!

Posted on October 16, 2016 by koenfucius

(featured image credit: edar/pixabay) How a winner of the Economics ‘Nobel’ prize may help run organizations better They say the way to hell is paved with good intentions. Arguably, anyone intent on paving the way to hell might find more … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics, Economics, Management, Organization Development | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Save us from Commodification

Posted on August 19, 2016 by koenfucius

Is increasing commodification a problem, and if so, can behavioural economics help avert it? Is the massive growth of the so-called sharing economy, typified by the likes of Uber and AirBnB, a sign of a trend towards a more closely … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Did emotions kill economic man?

Posted on July 21, 2016 by koenfucius

‘Emotional’ is not the opposite of ‘rational’ It may not strictly be considered the same as ‘irrational’, but the term ‘emotional’ is often regarded as diametrically opposed to ‘rational’. Perhaps dividing people in ‘emotional’ and ‘rational’ types would be all … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics, Economics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment