Author: Jordan Birnbaum -- Industrial / Organizational Psychology (“I/O”) is now more than a century old. Its roots go back to around WWI, as militaries tried to determine how best to assign new recruits. Questions about who should be in the trenches, who should be driving tanks and who should...
behavioral economics
Jordan Birnbaum
Author: Jordan Birnbaum -- As a behavioral economist, nothing irks me more than the misconception that human beings are, generally speaking, mentally lazy. This false premise is based on the observation that people often don’t think things through, particularly when it comes to decision-making. Human beings are not inherently lazy – we’re inherently efficient. We don’t have unlimited supplies of mental energy. Therefore, we have to reserve it so it...
Author: Jordan Birnbaum -- Behavioral economics is a term that is increasingly entering the lexicon of the world at work. Last October, renowned behavioral economist Richard Thaler won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for the research in his book “Nudge,” about how subtle policy or system shifts can...
Author: Jordan Birnbaum -- As a behavioral economist working in human capital management, I've witnessed how the concept of employee engagement has shifted among employers, from a "nice-to-have" to a "need-to-have." Where in the past engagement might have been considered a "soft" luxury among business managers and HR leaders, today,...
Author: Jordan Birnbaum -- "What's your availability?" It's a question that sends most of us directly to our calendars (where many will find evidence that we spend way too much of our lives in meetings). Yet the meaning of the word "availability" can differ in nuanced but important ways. In...
Author: Jordan Birnbaum -- Set the Default to SUCCESS In Part 1 of this post we described a few foundational ideas to provide context for why the default option is so important and so effective as a tool to drive behavior. So if the terms "System 1 and System 2 thinking," "mindless...
Author: Jordan Birnbaum -- Set The Default To SUCCESS "Human beings are inherently lazy." I hear or read some variation of this point way too frequently, as I have a major problem with it. (Or at least with the word choice.) "Lazy" conjures images of the couch, Netflix binging and...
Author: Jordan Birnbaum -- So What Exactly Is "Behavioral Economics?" And Why Exactly Should You Care?" "Irrational is the new black." –You, after reading my last post. (Very witty of you, by the way.) Of course you were referring to that old line from the fashion industry that refers to every...
Author: Jordan Birnbaum -- So What Exactly Is "Behavioral Economics?" And Why Exactly Should We "Care?" Supply. Demand. Utility. If you ever slept through an economics class in college, you probably heard your classmates throwing these terms around as you walked back to the dorm. They're like the first three...