Social and Decision Sciences in the News
2010
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July 14, 2010 Economics Behaving Badly - The New York Times (George Loewenstein and Peter Ubel, op-ed) IT seems that every week a new book or major newspaper article appears showing that irrational decision-making helped cause the housing bubble or the rise in health care costs. Such insights draw on behavioral economics, an increasingly popular field that incorporates elements from psychology to explain why people make seemingly irrational decisions, at least according to traditional economic theory and its emphasis on rational choice. Behavioral economics helps to explain why, for example, people under-save for retirement, why they eat too much and exercise too little and why they buy energy-inefficient light bulbs and appliances. And, by understanding the causes of these problems, behavioral economics has spawned a number of creative interventions to deal with them. Read the full story. May 4, 2010 SDS and EPP students, working with faculty members from Engineering and Public Policy, unveiled a new study on obesity and its associated costs in Allegheny County. Researchers used a lifestyle analysis approach that looked at a variety of ways to reduce obesity countywide. Researchers targeted five different areas for detailed study, including food shopping, school programs, workplace activities, restaurant menus and recreational facilities. Read the full story. April 15, 2010 Graduate student Leslie John was named a Facebook Fellow, one of five selected nationwide for this research position. John is researching new dimensions of privacy and how people decide what information to disclose. She applied for a fellowship to extend her research to the context of social networking. Read the full story. April 10, 2010 Professor Paul Fischbeck named the 2010 recipient of the university-wide William H. and Frances S. Ryan Award for Meritorious Teaching. Fischbeck was cited as "an outstanding teacher ... who is praised by his peers and pupils for his mastery of the classroom and his astute expertise in leading team project-oriented courses." He will receive the award at the Carnegie Mellon's Celebration of Teaching ceremony, 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 21 in the University Center. Read the full story. April 7, 2010 Professor Jendayi Frazer recently called on African leaders to reduce electoral conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa by improving accountability, justice and transparency. She addressed the leaders at a recent conference held in Accra, Ghana. The three-day conference, which Frazer conceptualized and organized, was aimed at addressing electoral violence in the region. The event attracted ministers and election supervisors from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia and Southern Sudan, among others.Read the full article on CNN World. Read the feature story from Carnegie Mellon's home page. Read a related news story about elections in Sudan. Read Frazer's comments about the European Union pulling its election observers from Darfur amid security concerns. April 2010 Professor Lee Branstetter comments: Taxing corporations' foreign profits, Public Radio International. Read the story. March 31, 2010 Professor George Loewenstein comments: Sparking Curiosity, Fast Company. "This ad worked because it made me curious. And believe it or not, there’s actually a theory of how you can generate curiosity. It’s from George Loewenstein at Carnegie Mellon University." Read the article. |