Long reads on how we actually think, decide and live.
Essays, data and ideas on economics, rationality and why we do what we do.
No spam. Just thoughtful ideas.
Hypocrisy is the wrong diagnosis. The ordinary mind is simply built for a different world.
Not every irrational act is a mistake. Some are the point.
The evidence is clear, the incentives are not, and the incentives usually win.
What feels like a preference is often just a default nobody questioned.
Most advice assumes a person who never existed.
Before we try to fix people, it is worth understanding what they are for.
The story we tell afterwards is tidier than the choice we made at the time.
The cost is obvious, the benefit is diffuse, and so the benefit loses.
A small decision, repeated daily, is a life. Nobody designs it that way.