Assorted links

February 22, 2011 in Blog posts | 2 comments

1) Honey, they shrunk our consumer products.

2) Mitigating the “regret premium” – in general, people aren’t willing to exchange lottery tickets even with a bonus.

3) Follow up on Kirkland House post. Trayless cafeterias result in 25 percent less food waste, according to a study of 25 campuses by food services provider Aramark. Hat tip: Scott Talan.

4) Should you peel a banana like a monkey? Nudge blog reader Matthew Hook says yes.

5) Behavioral economists advising on yet-to-be-released personal finance software. Stay tuned.

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  • Tom Morgan

    I never peel my banana like a monkey. I wouldn’t even know HOW to peel a monkey.

  • Cpt Democracy

    Nice strawman argument in the trays article. Evidently the *only* arguments against removing trays are: some students like to steal them to use as sleds; and some students like to steal them as souvenirs.

    It’s a good model for change advocacy:
    –Mention a hot topic issue that the change helps with (in this case obesity)
    –Mention another hot topic issue it helps with (in this case, going green)
    –Mention an obviously trivial or erroneous counterargument. This way, you can claim to have presented both sides. (Make sure to use the weakest counterargument you can find).
    –Quote a supporter.
    –Quote another supporter.
    –Quote an opponent–one using only the trivial argument. (Implication again: this is the *only* grounds for opposition).
    –Utopia, here we come!

    Note: this works much better than merely listing the upsides.