The idea of libertarian paternalism might seem to be an oxymoron, but it is both possible and legitimate for private and public institutions to affect behavior while also respecting freedom of choice. Often people's preferences are ill-formed, and their choices will inevitably be influenced by...

This essay is about what behavioral economics has established, what the new research frontiers are, and what can be said about welfare and consequently about policy.

This essay begins with introductions to the two sides of organizational economics: the economics of internal organization (which focuses on the internal structure and functioning of organizations) and the economic theory of the firm (which focuses on organizations' boundaries and on...

Politicians and policymakers are prone to the same biases as private citizens. Even if politicians are rational, little suggests that they have altruistic interests. Such concerns lead us to be wary of proposals that rely on benign governments to implement interventionist policies that "protect...

This conference brought together economists, behavioral scientists, and economic policymakers to apply insights from psychology and other behavioral disciplines to improve our understanding of how people make decisions as individuals and, ultimately, in a macroeconomic setting.

In this paper, the author separates the economic from the psychological aspects of labor market behavior and argues that the psychological ones deserve careful study.

Experimental psychology provides a drastically different picture of human abilities, motives, and behavior from that which predominates economic analyses. Individual preferences are normatively assumed to be well-ordered and consistent, but descriptively shown to be inconsistent and malleable....