Could you be our nudge intern?
We have a fascinating opportunity for a University of Edinburgh undergraduate student to join our team as an intern this summer. The job has a cool title: nudge intern.
Category: Economics
Why did the UK become a failed state? — Simon Wren-Lewis — mainly macro
This post is about how a policy (crashing out of the EU) that will do nearly everyone harm and some great harm seems to have considerable, albeit still minority, support… You either have to assume that a third of the population has gone mad, or instead see this as a fundamental failure of information. The […]
Are users rational? It depends on what you mean by rational
It’s fashionable to dismiss rational choice theory out of hand. But contrary to what you may have been told, aspects of rational choice theory can still be helpful in understanding the world. And I find it a useful way to think about user experience.
How Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman has supported my career
Last week I attended the Public Sector Design Community Meet-up. Attendees were invited to share a book, podcast or talk that has influenced or supported their career.
Nobel economics prize: Richard Thaler and behavioural economics
Richard Thaler has won the Nobel economics prize for his work in behavioural economics. Knowing about this area is essential if you are a designer, to help you gain an understanding of what makes people tick.
The bumpy road to autonomy
Autonomous vehicles — driverless cars — are coming. There will be bumps in the road along the way. But they are essential to fix our cities.
Web designers need to have an invisible hand
Why user-centred design is like a trade.
Not voting is a valid democratic act
People often claim that if you do not vote then you automatically lose your right to have a say in any way. This idea is dangerous and wrong.
How studying social science made me a better web designer
I thought I had joined the many people who don’t use their degrees in their careers. But I have come to realise that my degree in social science has been absolutely vital to my web design work.
Ignorance is inevitable
A survey showed that the British public is “wrong about nearly everything”. But the main lesson is not that so many people are stupid. It is that we are all ignorant, no matter how well-informed we like to think we are.
Living your life at random
A shortage of spare time has seen me deciding how to spend my spare time by using a random number generator. An experiment by Steve Levitt of Freakonomics fame has got me wondering if I could make even bigger decisions at random.