Essays
Long reads on how we actually think, decide and live.
Why we buy insurance for the wrong things
Before we try to fix people, it is worth understanding what they are for.
The regret of the second helping
A small decision, repeated daily, is a life. Nobody designs it that way.
Reason is a stubborn tax on attention
Economists have a model. The rest of us have a Tuesday.
The case against a good excuse
Most advice assumes a person who never existed.
What gossip teaches us about habit
We are far better at explaining our choices than at making them.
In praise of gossip
Not every irrational act is a mistake. Some are the point.
What the group chat teaches us about generosity
The story we tell afterwards is tidier than the choice we made at the time.
Attention is a borrowed habit
Most advice assumes a person who never existed.
In praise of the late fee
The cost is obvious, the benefit is diffuse, and so the benefit loses.
Expertise is a social kind of hope
What feels like a preference is often just a default nobody questioned.
The case against the polite refusal
Not every irrational act is a mistake. Some are the point.
In praise of a good excuse
We are far better at explaining our choices than at making them.