Blog Archives
New Year, New You—Physical and Mental Health Focus
January 2, 2020
It’s 4:50 a.m.—My alarm clock rings and I am quickly out the door. For me, it is a great way to start the day. My teammates in this group include a large number of attorneys. This is the perfect workout for self-driven, determined, and focused type-A personalities—i.e., lawyers. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Some of you already are a member of a fitness group or gym. For you, “get comfortable being uncomfortable” means you should get out of your comfort zone. Change up your...
January 2, 2020
It’s 4:50 a.m.—My alarm clock rings and I am quickly out the door. For me, it is a great way to start the day. My teammates in this group include a large number of attorneys. This is the perfect workout for self-driven, determined, and focused type-A personalities—i.e., lawyers. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Some of you already are a member of a fitness group or gym. For you, “get comfortable being uncomfortable” means you should get out of your comfort zone. Change up your...
The Economics of Attention Markets
December 31, 2019
The attention market involves competition in which platforms acquire time from consumers, with bundles of content and ads, and sell ads to marketers to deliver messages during that time. This paper shows that the attention market solves a transaction-cost problem that prevents efficient exchange between consumers and advertisers and that content plays a central role in solving that problem. The attention market contributes to consumer welfare by supplying valuable content, which more than compensates...
December 31, 2019
The attention market involves competition in which platforms acquire time from consumers, with bundles of content and ads, and sell ads to marketers to deliver messages during that time. This paper shows that the attention market solves a transaction-cost problem that prevents efficient exchange between consumers and advertisers and that content plays a central role in solving that problem. The attention market contributes to consumer welfare by supplying valuable content, which more than compensates...
Decreasing Divorce Rates
December 29, 2019
From Family Inequality: In “The Coming Divorce Decline” I showed the U.S. divorce rate falling from 2008 to 2017, and predicted that, because the married population was being stocked with increasingly non-divorce-prone marriages, the rate would continue to fall. After the first draft (based on 2016 data), divorce fell in 2017, providing the first support for my prediction before the paper was even “published” (accepted for Socius). Now the 2018 data is out, and divorce has become...
December 29, 2019
From Family Inequality: In “The Coming Divorce Decline” I showed the U.S. divorce rate falling from 2008 to 2017, and predicted that, because the married population was being stocked with increasingly non-divorce-prone marriages, the rate would continue to fall. After the first draft (based on 2016 data), divorce fell in 2017, providing the first support for my prediction before the paper was even “published” (accepted for Socius). Now the 2018 data is out, and divorce has become...
Ralph Baxter, Longtime Orrick Chair known as Industry Innovator, Becomes Cohost of Law Technology Now Podcast
December 28, 2019
It is official: Ralph Baxter, who gained a reputation as a legal industry innovator over nearly 25 years as chairman and CEO of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and as an industry advisor since leaving the firm in 2014, is today being announced as the newest cohost of the Legal Talk Network podcast Law Technology Now. If you listened to my Sept. 16 LawNext interview with Baxter, he talked about his plans to join the podcast. The first Law Technology Now episode...
December 28, 2019
It is official: Ralph Baxter, who gained a reputation as a legal industry innovator over nearly 25 years as chairman and CEO of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and as an industry advisor since leaving the firm in 2014, is today being announced as the newest cohost of the Legal Talk Network podcast Law Technology Now. If you listened to my Sept. 16 LawNext interview with Baxter, he talked about his plans to join the podcast. The first Law Technology Now episode...
The Golden Age of Social Science
December 27, 2019
In this short essay we argue that social science is entering a golden age, marked by explosive growth in new data and analytic methods, interdisciplinarity, and a recognition that both of those ingredients are necessary to solve hard problems.Two examples are given to illustrate these themes, which are behavioral economics and social networks. Numerous other specific study examples are then given. We also address the challenges that accompany the three positive trends, which include informatics,...
December 27, 2019
In this short essay we argue that social science is entering a golden age, marked by explosive growth in new data and analytic methods, interdisciplinarity, and a recognition that both of those ingredients are necessary to solve hard problems.Two examples are given to illustrate these themes, which are behavioral economics and social networks. Numerous other specific study examples are then given. We also address the challenges that accompany the three positive trends, which include informatics,...
Back to Mill? Behavioral Welfare Economics
December 26, 2019
A growing body of normative work, going under the name of “behavioral welfare economics,” explores how deference to people’s choices might be reconciled with behavioral findings about human error. The best approach adopts a working presumption in favor of respect for those choices, so long as they are adequately informed and sufficiently free from behavioral biases. For purposes of law and policy, it is most helpful for behavioral economists to emphasize that people may choose the wrong means...
December 26, 2019
A growing body of normative work, going under the name of “behavioral welfare economics,” explores how deference to people’s choices might be reconciled with behavioral findings about human error. The best approach adopts a working presumption in favor of respect for those choices, so long as they are adequately informed and sufficiently free from behavioral biases. For purposes of law and policy, it is most helpful for behavioral economists to emphasize that people may choose the wrong means...
Exit Strategy
December 25, 2019
In Silicon Valley, the most important thing to think about when starting a company is how you’re going to end it. The venture capital funding model that dominates the tech industry is focused on the “exit strategy” — the ways funders and founders can cash out their investment. While in common lore the exit strategy is an initial public offering (IPO), in practice IPOs are increasingly rare. Most companies that succeed instead exit the market by merging with an existing firm. And for a variety...
December 25, 2019
In Silicon Valley, the most important thing to think about when starting a company is how you’re going to end it. The venture capital funding model that dominates the tech industry is focused on the “exit strategy” — the ways funders and founders can cash out their investment. While in common lore the exit strategy is an initial public offering (IPO), in practice IPOs are increasingly rare. Most companies that succeed instead exit the market by merging with an existing firm. And for a variety...
Reminders Work, But for Whom? Evidence from New York City Parking-Ticket Recipients
December 24, 2019
We study response behavior of New York City parking-ticket recipients, analyzing administrative data on 6.6 million tickets issued to 2 million individuals over two years. Using variation in the timing of reminder letters, we find evidence consistent with significant forgetting. But we find large differences across individuals, and, importantly, those with a low baseline propensity to respond to tickets–a natural nudge target–react least to reminders. These low-response types, who incur significant...
December 24, 2019
We study response behavior of New York City parking-ticket recipients, analyzing administrative data on 6.6 million tickets issued to 2 million individuals over two years. Using variation in the timing of reminder letters, we find evidence consistent with significant forgetting. But we find large differences across individuals, and, importantly, those with a low baseline propensity to respond to tickets–a natural nudge target–react least to reminders. These low-response types, who incur significant...
FL: Appellate Court Upholds Constitutionality of Med Mal Cap if Arbitration Offer Had Been Rejected by Plaintiff
December 23, 2019
On Wednesday, a south Florida appellate court upheld as constitutional a $350,000 cap on pain and suffering in med mal cases in which a healthcare provider's offer to arbitrate was rejected and the plaintiff filed suit. The distinction is important because the Florida Supreme Court held in 2017 that caps on pain and suffering in med mal cases generally are unconstitutional. WUSF has the story.
December 23, 2019
On Wednesday, a south Florida appellate court upheld as constitutional a $350,000 cap on pain and suffering in med mal cases in which a healthcare provider's offer to arbitrate was rejected and the plaintiff filed suit. The distinction is important because the Florida Supreme Court held in 2017 that caps on pain and suffering in med mal cases generally are unconstitutional. WUSF has the story.
Identify Great Customers from Their First Purchase
December 22, 2019
The researchers extracted six variables to represent first-time customers’ acquisition behavior, including whether the purchase was made online or offline, number of items purchased, prices, discounts, whether the purchase was made during a holiday period, and whether the customer purchased a newly released product. With only those six variables, the authors show how the algorithm can better identify future heavy spenders and those who will be most responsive to future email promotions after just...
December 22, 2019
The researchers extracted six variables to represent first-time customers’ acquisition behavior, including whether the purchase was made online or offline, number of items purchased, prices, discounts, whether the purchase was made during a holiday period, and whether the customer purchased a newly released product. With only those six variables, the authors show how the algorithm can better identify future heavy spenders and those who will be most responsive to future email promotions after just...
