Do people work less in the US when the World Cup is going on?
s, sometimes up to almost a half hour per week less: In this paper I explore the flexibility of the work week in the United States, using the FIFA Soccer World Cup as a natural experiment. My empirical strategy exploits the exogenous variation that arises due to which country hosts the World Cup, as this will determine the time games are broadcast across different time zones in the United States. The hour of the day when games are broadcast differentially…
2 minutes
Are happier people better citizens?
is paper presents evidence on causal influence of happiness on social capital and trust using German Socio-Economic Panel. Exploiting the unexplained cross-sectional variation in individual happiness (residuals) in 1984 to eliminate the endogeneity problem, the paper finds that happier people trust others more, and importantly, help create more social capital. Specifically, they have a higher desire to vote, perform more volunteer work, and more frequently participate in public activities. They also have a higher respect for law and order, hold…
1 min read
What’s worse: losing your job or being afraid of losing your job?
..perceived job insecurity ranks as one of the most important factors in employees' well-being and can be even more harmful than actual job loss with subsequent unemployment." This paper analyzes the impact of job insecurity perceptions on individual well-being. In contrast to previous studies, we explicitly take into account perceptions about both the likelihood and the potential costs of job loss and demonstrate that most contributions to the literature suffer from simultaneity bias. When accounting for simultaneity, we find the…
1 min read
A quick tip to improve your poker game:
ter losing a big hand, take a break or consciously make sure you don't play less cautiously: We find that experienced poker players typically change their style of play after winning or losing a big pot—most notably, playing less cautiously after a big loss, evidently hoping for lucky cards that will erase their loss. This finding is consistent with Kahneman and Tversky's (Kahneman, D., A. Tversky. 1979. Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica 47(2) 263–292) break-even hypothesis…
1 min read
What should you do if you’re a mean drunk but don’t wanna get into fights?
t on Prozac: Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the serotonin (5-HT) system in alcohol-related aggression. Methods: Specifically, we experimentally examined the effects of 5-HT augmentation on alcohol-related aggression in men (n = 56). After consuming either alcohol (mean blood alcohol concentration of 0.10%) or a placebo (no alcohol) drink, and taking either 20 mg of paroxetine (Paxil®) or a placebo pill, participants were provided the opportunity to administer electric shock to a (faux)…
1 min read
Is your brother smart? Then you might be crazy.
lose relatives of successful students showed increased risks of psychosis." Background It has been suggested that psychosis genes mightbe associated with beneficial effects, explaining their highfrequency in all human populations. Aims To test the relationship between academic success and the incidence of psychotic disorders. Method The unusually complete demographic and scholastic records available in Iceland were used to locate academically accomplishedindividuals and assess the probability of previously identifiedpatients with mental disorders and their relatives being amongsuch groups. Results Close relatives…
1 min read
Do rich guys give women more orgasms? (pt2)
d I mention I'm not a scientist? I'm just a guy who posts stuff he finds interesting on a website. So, caveat emptor, dear readers. In my post on what to look for in a marriage partner I said that rich guys give women more orgasms. And that's what the study showed. Well, turns out the study was wrong: In a recent article in this journal (Pollet and Nettle, 2009), we reported that women with higher-income partners reported more frequent…
2 minutes
Can you pay people to develop good habits?
oks like the answer might be yes: Can incentives be effective when trying to encourage the development of good habits? We investigate the effect of paying people a non-trivial amount of money to attend an exercise facility a number of times during a one-month period. In two separate studies, we find that doing so leads to a large and significant increase in the average post-intervention attendance level relative to the control group. This result is entirely driven by the impact…
1 min read
