Kai Ruggeri
@kairuggeri
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Prof @ColumbiaHPM studying decision-making & behavior | Fellow @CambridgeJBS | @USAirForce @AirNatlGuard Officer | Ozark born+raised | No, haven't seen the show
Joined August 2011
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As a senior in high school, a guidance counselor told me not to attend the admissions event when
@Columbia
University visited our school. He said they were out of my league.
Today:
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POOR BUT NOT BY CHOICE(S)
Preprint: Across 27 countries (5,000 participants), our team of 36 researchers found *NO DIFFERENCES* in cognitive bias patterns for financial decisions between economic groups. NONE. People aren't poor because of bad choices.
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POOR BUT NOT BY CHOICE(S): Across 27 countries (5,000 participants), our team of 40 researchers found *NO DIFFERENCES* in bias patterns for financial decisions between income groups. NONE.
Economic inequality isn't caused by bad choices.
Open access:
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Did behavioral science offer anything during the pandemic? 76 authors (23 countries) assessed evidence from 3,000+ behavioral science papers during COVID, testing 19 claims by Van Bavel et al 2020.
Preprint:
Interactive database:
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People of all incomes & backgrounds prefer immediate rewards over larger, delayed ones. 170-author, 61-country study in
@NatureHumBehav
shows econ. inequality, inflation, & instability disrupt financial many decisions. Multiple, major policy implications.
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RAND is hiring social and behavioral scientists to fill some really exciting positions (LA, DC, PGH, Boston) and offering exceptional salary+benefits. Would highly recommend this - RAND was an extremely valuable experience early in my career.
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We’ve just had a paper accepted after four years and 17 (Seventeen. One-Seven.) rounds of review.
Academia can be a harsh, unforgiving, and frustrating uphill battle. But if you believe in the value of what you are doing, please don’t give up on it.
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I JUST FOUND OUT I WON A MAJOR RESEARCH GRANT BUT EVERYONE IN MY DEPARTMENT ALREADY LEFT FOR THE HOLIDAYS AND I'M YELLING IN AN EMPTY HALLWAY AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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RAND is hiring multiple amazing positions again - now specifically health policy researchers in Santa Monica, DC, Boston, & Pittsburgh. Tremendous opportunity with exceptional pay and benefits in a world-class organization that produces real impact.
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Behavioral science policy recommendations early in the pandemic were LARGELY CORRECT. Our global collaboration in
@Nature
covers 747 studies with an average sample size over 16,000! Evidence supports 16 of 19 claims, with lessons for science & policy.
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Preprint: Decision-making study in 61 countries involving 13,629 people shows temporal discounting is a global behavior & financial choices heavily impacted by inequality. We (169 authors) refute views that low-income individuals are bad decision-makers.
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Political differences are very real, but polarization is overstated, leading us to overestimate how much 'they' dislike 'our' ideas. Simple changes narrow these fault lines.
83 (mostly junior) authors replicate
@profcikara
&
@Leesplez
in 26 countries.
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Thrilled to say this is now in press and on shelves soon. With huge thanks to all coauthors, who I will now tag in the comments.
Preview available here:
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For Christmas, my mother gave me a scarf that had one of my own analyses on it.
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Instead of joining last year's debate about whether loss aversion was a fallacy, we just tested Prospect Theory with 4,000 people from 19 countries. Results speak for themselves.
Preprint up now. Feedback welcomed.
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Scientific evidence is critical in public policy, but there is no one “right” way to do it: Not all evidence is equal & not all policies require the same input. Our recent
@Nature
piece presents one rigorous way to synthesize evidence for policy. 🧵
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PUBLIC DATA RELEASE: All data & code for our 26-country study on polarization now freely available at ! Study showed how we over-estimate negativity from “other” political parties. Showing true beliefs reduces (false) polarization.
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Our textbook on behavioral economics and evidence-based policy out now. Huge thanks to all involved, including
@CassSunstein
@jonj
@ashleywhillans
@CABS_MDRC
@Sander_vdLinden
@davenuss79
@ideas42
@faisal_naru
@UofT_BEAR
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If you have found value in the large-scale studies we carried out through global collaborations in recent years, we will soon share something on a whole new level. Dedication to scientific rigor from everyone involved - authors, editor, peer reviewers - for the good of society.
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We are pleased to share another free data tool for all to use! A fun, engaging, user-friendly way to explore & export decision-making patterns in 61 countries from our research on behavior and economic inequality ().
Tool:
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We are not as polarized as we think.
PREPRINT: Across 26 countries & 10,000 participants, our team of 80 collaborators find high replicability & generalizability of
@Leesplez
and
@profcikara
's work on what we think the other side believes.
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Psychology & Behavioral Economics is a
#1
new release on Amazon! Honored at such positive attention. We hope it is useful to a diverse audience of students and professionals interested in learning about psychology, behavioral economics, & public policy!
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Nothing big here, just 170 friends running the marshmallow test with 13,000 adults from 61 countries. Summary:
1. Being poor/rich does not make good/bad decision-makers.
2. Inequality & inflation leads to unstable decisions.
3. Temporal discounting is globalizable.
Do patterns of temporal discounting generalize around the world?
@kairuggeri
@amma_panin
@edu_gargar
et al use data from 61 countries to look at temporal discounting and inequality around the world.
📃:
Research Briefing:
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Our team - from academics to NASA - spent four years designing a standard for scientific evidence relevant to policy that could be applied directly to published research, including pre-prints.
@Sander_vdLinden
@ThatClaire
@zeina_afif
@Francipapa3
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If you never read Nudge (
@R_Thaler
&
@CassSunstein
) or you are on the fence about reading the new (“Final”) edition, my first ever book review is out
@BPPjournal
. BLUF: Strongly recommend; I also share some unfiltered views about behavioral science today.
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Same as it ever was: Our 19-country, 4,000 participant attempt at replicating the original Prospect Theory leaves no doubt. As robust today as it was in 1979.
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PREPRINT: Mental accounting - treating money differently at small & large amounts - holds 100% across 21 countries (plus 91% of 147 unique effects). Even financial literacy did *not* explain decision-making. We note implications for you, me, & policy.
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PREPRINT: "The psychology and policy of overcoming economic inequality".
Experimental data from 60 countries + stimulus check data from the US show how gender & economic inequality harm upward mobility, and how policies can change it.
(41 authors)
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For psychologists & those wanting to follow psychological science, Kait Clark has put together this tremendous resource for Mastodon. It has a growing list of people you may already follow here with instructions for how to easily follow in bulk.
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PUBLIC DATA RELEASE: All data and code from our recent study () on cognitive bias and decision-making between economic groups now posted. Data covers nearly 5,000 participants from 27 countries. Freely available for all to use:
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We've reached an agreement with our publisher to make the glossary & repository of behavioral policies from our 2019 textbook freely available (+foreword from
@CassSunstein
). Especially useful as a non-website reference for behavioral econ/science terms.
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PUBLIC DATA RELEASE: Data from our study on temporal discounting and economic inequality () are now publicly available for all to use here: .
Data include behavior, wealth, & demographics of 13,629 participants from 61 countries.
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The psychology & policy of overcoming economic inequality
@BBSJournal
Experimental data (60 countries) + stimulus check data (US) show how policies that change systems *and* support individuals could promote upward mobility, benefitting *everyone*. 🧵
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If you like nudges and evidence-based policy, we've put together 100 examples and over 200 principles of behavioral insights. We also have a cover that would make Instagram proud.
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Financial well-being, mental health, personality: In seven countries, greater stress linked to lower financial well-being. Financial well-being is most strongly associated with low neuroticism (& sometimes high conscientiousness).
@eike_kofi
@sarahaj95
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To avoid confusion: Cognitive biases are absolutely visible in *all* groups. They just aren't different between groups.
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The ultimate goal of behavioral policy must be improving the well-being of populations. Governments increasingly say they care about this, but need to invest more in measuring it - one life satisfaction question is not enough. We present one way forward.
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As 2023 ends, so too did my 12 years directing
@jResearcherProg
. Our first goal was only to create chances for others to have the life-changing opportunity that
@Cambridge_Uni
gave me in 2011. This special shot of my farewell speech to some of our 500+ alumni shows we succeeded.
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Inconsistent definitions of wealth & inequality hurt effective policy research. For our chapter in
@CassSunstein
&
@LuciaReisch
's new book,
@valentinacfr
& I propose definitions+frameworks for behavioral interventions that can track meaningful outcomes.
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Mental accounting is very real. In this
@FT
piece, I show the evidence & real-world examples of how we treat money differently based on context & relative amounts, not true financial value. The evidence is much greater than what a few frauds can diminish.
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Being short-sighted is a stronger predictor of refusing a vaccine than age, education, income, or mental health in 13 countries (n>4,000). Exceptional study published today in
@SciReports
led by the amazing
@RosenbaumLab
PhD student Julia Halilova.
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My coauthor
@ashleighmess
invites you to read our recent paper on financial decision-making and cognitive biases in her charmingly British way.
Yes, the QR code works.
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JOB in New York: I'm hiring a full-time researcher on large-scale analysis of financial & health behaviors for policy. Ideal if you plan to apply for a PhD in the next few years but want more research experience first.
Details:
(note language req's)
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"Did my own research"-guess what we found?!
People that don't care about you & want to divide communities push cheap, lazy lies about vaccines, then say misinformation is fake.
Solution: Build trust. Engage real concerns. Keep debates public.
@bmj_latest
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Relevant to ongoing
@PsychScience
discussions about research becoming more global, we have now completed this pre-registered () study in 61 countries (>13,000 participants). A truly global study with 170 collaborators as co-authors.
Pre-print forthcoming.
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Many who overcome poverty become the best decision-makers: save/invest well, avoid debt, donate generously. Why aren’t they included in designing policies meant to reduce inequalities?
On the value of positive deviance w/
@Sjnjerak
, Persp
@PsychScience
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We can go back and fail students for putting this in our teaching evaluations, right?
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Three years of not seeing this view had me starting to question if it was ever real to begin with.
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In the most British way possible to do research,
@ashleighmess
has cross-stitched a QR code to reach our team's survey.
And it works*.
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Individuals that overcome extreme disadvantage - positive deviants - are more likely to make optimal financial choices over time than almost everyone else.
Deeply personal paper forthcoming in Perspectives on
@PsychScience
with
@Sjnjerak
.
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Academic win: Special edition of Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences on Big Data edited by
@michalkosinski
and
@TaraBehrend
out today includes our paper (Big Data, policy, population behavior) and my art on the cover.
@ElsevierConnect
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Today is the official end of my service on Operation COVID-19 after nearly 5,000 hours on active duty. Let the record show that I was an academic from beginning to end.
@newyorkguard
@NationalGuardNY
@AirNatlGuard
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There is of course room to improve: we need more field studies, better direct engagement with practitioners, and better safeguards to separate expertise/quality from noise. Evidence also taught us the true costs of inaction in crises.
We summarize lessons for science & policy.
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PREPRINT: In a 27-country study on public policy messaging, we find communicating scientific consensus on climate change impacts accuracy & beliefs but not views on taking urgent action. Powerful work led by
@BVeckalov
&
@SandraJGeiger
.
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UNSTANDARD DEVIATION: Behavioral interventions to reduce economic inequality often come up short. Involving those that have themselves overcome inequality (positive deviants) in those policies could fix that. -in Perspectives on
@PsychScience
w/
@Sjnjerak
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We have a textbook coming out on behavioral economics (or whatever name your prefer) with ~250 examples. Prior to approving the final proofs, we checked if any had failed to replicate or come under dispute. After removing ones that did, we ended up with ~250 examples.
So... not dead at all in my view. Behavioral economists just need to pull their head out of trivialities like loss aversion and focus on the big sociological and psychological forces that shape human and group decisions. Which they're doing.
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Read any really good, bad, or otherwise informative research on behavior during the pandemic? If so, consider recommending it for a major policy review! Self-submission, null findings, multi-site, preprint, & peer/non-peer review all highly encouraged!
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Under the leadership of
@SenPei_CU
, the
@NSF
and
@CDCgov
are providing us $1 million in funding to make New York better prepared for the next pandemic by better understanding human behavior, needs, challenges, & opportunities. Real investment for real policy impact.
Excited to share that my project on behavior-driven disease forecasting is funded by
@NSF
(co-funded by
@CDCgov
CFA)! We will infuse behavior data into epi models and develop predictive tools for operational use in NYC.
@NSF_MPS
#DMSFunded
@ColumbiaMSPH
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Every child raised by a single mother will appreciate how grateful I am to
@UN_Women
for not only letting my mother attend the panel I was on for behavioral insights week, but for making her feel like such a special guest.
Photo credit:
@JoeySherlock1
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Presenting at
#COP26
how reducing economic inequality is central to all
#greenpolicy
, but addressing
#climatechange
is a chance to actually create equity if done well (or make it worse, if not).
Join here: (1700 UK time - Sunday, Nov 7)
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Worth adding that the editors, reviewers, and overall process of working with
@NatureHumBehav
was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my career. Engaged, thorough, challenging, and collegial - truly resulted in a better publication.
This new study by
@kairuggeri
et al reports the results of a multi-national replication study of Kahneman & Tversky’s 1979 “Prospect Theory: An analysis of decision under risk.” Results suggest the original findings do replicate in contemporary settings.
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It is always an honor to have research positively reviewed, but these closing remarks from
@karolinalempert
about our paper on temporal discounting () are a wonderfully unexpected tribute to the team. Grateful to see meaningful impact so quickly.
See 👇, I wrote a blog post about the new
@NatureHumBehav
paper from
@kairuggeri
and colleagues - an astounding collaborative effort that assessed temporal discounting in 61 (!) different countries.
Financial Impatience Across the Globe | Psychology Today
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Wait until they find out I’m not an economist
@LaraMariellchen
@OECD_Stat
@faisal_naru
@FilippoCavassi1
@JamesRDrummond
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Following several requests from
@BeSciPol
Conference, posting the visual I use when presenting our research on positive deviance, economic inequality, and behavioral policy (). Feel free to use my grab, but note that it comes from
@UpshotNYT
.
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Over 7,000 soldiers in
@NationalGuardNY
& NY
@AirNatlGuard
served on Operation COVID-19, delivering millions of meals, vaccines & public services. Privileged to be one of them and allowed to share this
@JAMAHealthForum
piece w/public & medical community.
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This is the story behind our replication (). If nothing else, I hope it is an encouragement to early career researchers and the academics who support them.
@jResearchProg
Full story:
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In extremely disadvantaged populations such as refugees, better mental health is associated with much higher risk-taking, and poor mental health leads to avoiding most types of risks, even good ones.
@HannesJarke
@GMHLab_TC
@lamaelzein30
@Sjnjerak
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Hope this finds you well | Out of office |
Just wanted to follow up | As per my previous email
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Our recommendations for early career researchers on developing reproducible behavioral science when working across languages and borders
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It has been a big week for behavioral science (whatever the definition)
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When it comes to
#nudging
and
#boosting
to help with uncertain financial decisions, anything is better than nothing, but boosting can be especially powerful if it's a "good risk".
@Sjnjerak
@darlenedsouza
@FedericaStablum
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Credit to all 171 authors, with special nods to
@amma_panin
and
@edu_gargar
- so much talent, they couldn't even fit all the names onto a single page.
Kudos to
@kairuggeri
for receiving a raving review in
@PsychToday
for his recently published article on temporal choices! 👏🌟
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Testing nudges and boosts in 1,400 participants in the US and Serbia (with replication), showing potential opportunities uneven impacts of behavioral interventions. Real money also shows similar choices as hypothetical ?s.
@FranklinMatija
@Sjnjerak
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It's not what you nudge, it's who you nudge: Communicating evidence to policymakers and the public -> pre-print only, suggestions welcomed; flattery preferred
CC
@Sjnjerak
et al.
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Referencing for future students: This is not how you determine an appropriate sample size.
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All you celsiophiles need to admit this just sounds hotter than “38”
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With great excitement, I can add that this is now award-winning research as Tomas has just received the Gavin C Reid Prize from
@CambridgeCBR
@CambridgeJBS
@kairuggeri
and I (and a wonderful research team, too many to subtweet them all) replicated the findings from Kanheman's and Tversky's classic Econometrica paper in 19 different countries, and the results just came out in
@NatureHumBehav
: .
A short thread.
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If someone accidentally writes "Tursday" in an email, what is your default assumption for which one they intended?
Tuesday
60
Thursday
117
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Both a career highlight and the best use of any recommendation I've ever made
Seven recommendations for improving research in this Frontiers article ends with one we can all agree on.
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Call for Research Supervisors now open! We are looking for six PhD students or (recent) postdocs interested in leading teams of early career behavioral scientists on the topic of Behavioral Economics for the 2019-2020 Junior Researcher Programme cohort.
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We have come a long way with behavioral policies, but we can do better at making sure those worst off - who would benefit the most - experience the full benefit. With two people that don't have twitter &
@Sjnjerak
, we present one way forward.
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