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Long reads on how we actually think, decide and live.

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Expertise is a social kind of hope

What feels like a preference is often just a default nobody questioned.

By Alina Petrova15 Jun 20258 min read

Illustration of a bare tree over a faint grid, overlaid with rust-red, pale blue and black-spotted circles

What the slow lane teaches us about loyalty

A small decision, repeated daily, is a life. Nobody designs it that way.

By Alina Petrova7 May 20257 min read

A short history of the queue

A small decision, repeated daily, is a life. Nobody designs it that way.

By Alina Petrova27 Mar 202510 min read

Pale pink blossom on thin branches in front of a raw concrete wall

The choice of the late fee

What feels like a preference is often just a default nobody questioned.

By Alina Petrova15 Feb 20256 min read

People crossing a sunlit concrete hall

In praise of the shortcut

Economists have a model. The rest of us have a Tuesday.

By Alina Petrova9 Jan 202511 min read

A lone figure climbing a pale stone staircase towards an arched window filled with light

Status is a reasonable bet on the future

Not every irrational act is a mistake. Some are the point.

By Alina Petrova28 Nov 202412 min read

Illustration of a bare tree over a faint grid, overlaid with rust-red, pale blue and black-spotted circles

Generosity is a social bargain

We are far better at explaining our choices than at making them.

By Alina Petrova21 Oct 202410 min read

A short history of the apology

Before we try to fix people, it is worth understanding what they are for.

By Alina Petrova9 Sept 20249 min read

Pale pink blossom on thin branches in front of a raw concrete wall

Ideas worth reading. Every week.

Essays, data and ideas on economics, rationality and why we do what we do.

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