Essays
Long reads on how we actually think, decide and live.
The pride of the commute
A small decision, repeated daily, is a life. Nobody designs it that way.
A short history of the honest mistake
The story we tell afterwards is tidier than the choice we made at the time.
What reason is for
We did not evolve to be right. We evolved to be convincing, and to be hard to convince.
What the tip jar teaches us about nostalgia
We are far better at explaining our choices than at making them.
The case against the rounding error
Economists have a model. The rest of us have a Tuesday.
Envy is a small kind of hope
The cost is obvious, the benefit is diffuse, and so the benefit loses.
The case against the round number
What feels like a preference is often just a default nobody questioned.
What the group chat teaches us about pride
Before we try to fix people, it is worth understanding what they are for.
The loyalty of the school run
What feels like a preference is often just a default nobody questioned.
The luck of the receipt
Before we try to fix people, it is worth understanding what they are for.
A short history of the school run
We are far better at explaining our choices than at making them.
What the shortcut teaches us about regret
Economists have a model. The rest of us have a Tuesday.