For the 45.3 million Americans who struggle to cover basic expenses, living in poverty is costly in terms of time, money, and cognition. Recent research by two of ideas42’s cofounders gives a name to the cognitive costs of poverty: a bandwidth tax, levied by the experience of scarcity. They find that lacking a key resource, […]
ideas42’s network of academic affiliates represent some of the world’s foremost experts in behavioral science. With the ideas42 Affiliate Series, we invite them to share their insights and what inspires their exploration into human behavior. For the second interview of the ideas42 Affiliate Series, we recently invited Anandi Mani to visit our New York office to give […]
Most car owners know that regular oil changes keep their cars running smoothly. Every few months, they visit their local dealerships, service stations or Jiffy Lubes and drive off 15 minutes later with the maintenance complete. But what if places like Jiffy Lube didn’t provide direct services? What if instead they hosted one-hour informational seminars […]
by Eldar Shafir
Like many of us, I’m lucky enough to be able to manage my daily life while devoting just a sliver of my mind to looking after my personal finances. But for lower-income American households, navigating continuously challenging financial situations takes up a significant portion of their time, attention, and cognitive resources. Since we are all […]
At ideas42 we do a lot of work applying behavioral science to challenges in higher education. Obtaining a university education is an incredibly strong predictor of individual earnings and economic mobility. But, unfortunately, the barriers to completing a degree are growing, with ballooning costs and student debt stifling economic growth and opportunity. This growing crisis […]
For many of us, saving enough for retirement remains a murky, unrealized goal. Behavioral science has already proven useful in some ways, but there are still many opportunities to apply a behavioral lens to better preparing for the future. In Mexico, not putting aside enough for retirement is a persistent problem for many people. As […]
ideas42’s network of academic affiliates represent some of the world’s foremost experts in behavioral science. In their efforts to address some of society’s toughest problems—from poverty alleviation to improving health care—these scholars have continually generated surprising and often counterintuitive scientific insights about why we make the choices we do. Their research illuminates our behavioral interventions […]
“If you don’t have money, if you don’t come from money, then your whole life is a struggle.” Though Mark* said this with a smile, we sensed his exhaustion. He spoke lovingly of his 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son, but explained that it was difficult to balance looking after his family with complicated work schedules. […]
With a six-fold increase in global water use over the last century, the availability of fresh water has emerged as a critical issue for environmental sustainability. Water scarcity is an issue that policymakers must address with urgency — states like California already face one of the worst droughts in history. The United Nations estimates that by […]
Over the past two years, the ideas42 team has run more than 15 higher education projects at colleges and universities around the country. Our goal is to use behavioral science insights to design low cost interventions that improve student outcomes – both academic and financial. In the process we’ve taken a crash course in the […]
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