๐๐๐ง๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง
@m_sendhil
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We used fictitious resumes to find employer bias. We used statistics to find bias in a healthcare algorithm. Side by side these studies show why discrimination perpetrated by algorithms is so very different from discrimination perpetrated by people.
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Any discussion of re-opening the economy must recognize not all businesses are the same. Some contribute more to spread than others. Cellphone data can help identify them - see for yourself in our OpEd ๐งต.
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We want algorithms that are simple and interpretable. We want algorithms that are fair. A paper with Jon Kleinberg that shows why you probably can't have both.
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๐งต1/ New paper: We argue machine learning should be used to generate truly novel hypotheses. The application: judge decision-making. We find a single factor is heavily related to who gets jailed: the defendantโs mugshot. What are judges looking at?. Our method unpacks this. .
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Our paper on how machine learning fits in econometric toolbox w/@jannspiess J.Econ.Perspectives 1pic summary:
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Behaviorally informed edit: . To be scientifically literate is to empower yourself to know when you yourself are full of shit.
To be scientifically literate is to empower yourself to know when someone else is full of shit.
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1/2 Exciting to announce this summer school in machine learning, economics and policy! . Whether you want to work in this are or already do, it's a great way to learn new tools and get research ideas. Amazing list of faculty already lined up +more to come.
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Excessive force. Unnecessary arrests. The policing problem seems intractable. A new large-scale RCT with Chicago police offers a glimmer of hope. And insight into *one* overlooked reason (obviously not the only reason) for the problems of policing. ๏ฟฝ
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Self-replication: . We re-ran the studies from our 2012 scarcity paper with larger N: learned a lot - not everything replicates (though a lot does). Would encourage others try self replication. Any lab interested in replicating our work? (DM me).
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I rarely feel comfortable sharing personal stories in my columns, but this one was so apt I pushed past my reticence. Full column here:
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Want financial advice? 2) @haroldpollack gives it free. in index card form. http://t.co/FxZURVw5z6.
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1/3: Our recent @sciencemagazine paper finds large racial bias in an important health care algorithm. We want to help fix the problem. If youโre at a health system or a manufacturer that wants to know more or do better โ contact us at caai@uchicago.edu.
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Heartbroken about police killings of African Americans, I dug into the data. It changed my thinking. http://t.co/XfTm3DH30f.
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Since science is entirely a team effort, I'm always a little skeptical of individual prizes. But the @infosysPrize has a wonderful mission: "inspire young Indians to choose a vocation in research." And what an honor to contribute to that goal
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We had to act quickly to contain the virus . We have to move equally quickly to contain the economic fallout. My attempt to think through some policies that should be on the DO NOW list .
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Are you doing a ecoomics-related PhD? .Interested in AI/ML? . Then apply to our Summer Institute in Machine Learning! . Learn from awesome faculty.Meet other like-minded students.Get exposed to cool, new ideas . (march 24 deadline)
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To companies expressing support for racial equity ๐๐พ๐๐พ . Now show you mean it. Give workers (& contractors) paid time off to vote #time4voting . Hourly & gig workers are already stretched - don't force them to make a financial sacrifice to vote.
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To fight discrimination we must catch it but the inscrutability of human choice processes makes detection and proof hard. We argue algorithms make this crucial challenge easier but only with new policies in place. First draft Kleinberg Ludwig @CassSunstein.
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Terrific job market paper on cognitive taxes of poverty by Claire Duquennois: exam questions that involve money reduce accuracy on subsequent questions. Once money is on the mind even poor children apparently find it hard to think about other things. h/t @FrankSchilbach.
Claire Duquennois. JMP: "Fictional Money, Real Costs: Impacts of Financial Salience on Disadvantaged Students". Website:
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Great rundown of discrimination research in economics by my friend and long-time collaborator Marianne Bertrand:
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The applied AI Center @UChicago is hiring predocs. Apply a range of empirical tools (ML, causal inference, generative models, ontologies) to interesting problems (e.g. in health, education, discrimination. even baking). Join us before econ/stats/CS PhD!
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Long slog but finally our paper on machine learning applied to bail decisions. @jure @hima_bindu.
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Voting shouldn't be a financial burden. Employers should give paid time off to your employees & contractors, especially hourly or gig workers. If you agree . 1) please retweet and. 2) contact your employer #time4voting .
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1/2: Fighting the coronavirus is hard enough. Regulations shouldn't make it harder. (column from @R_Thaler and me). On the front lines and see a regulation that needs suspending? Tell us - see next tweet for how to get in touch.
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Very impressive resource for behavioral interventions
Find proven behavioral strategies across #health, #financialinclusion, #education, & more (& check out #bhub's new look!)
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Excited to be part of this paper. We study a question about language models that I find fascinating: have they come to โunderstandโ the world behind the sequences they are trained on?.
New paper: How can you tell if a transformer has the right world model?. We trained a transformer to predict directions for NYC taxi rides. The model was good. It could find shortest paths between new points. But had it built a map of NYC? We reconstructed its map and found this:
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A sampling of 19 great Black economists working today - I'm lucky to have the opportunity to learn from their research and even luckier to know a few personally. #Juneteenth.
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Winning best actress award increases divorce rates (not so for best actor): example of hidden tax on successful women .
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What many people get (very) wrong about the marshmallow test study
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Bob Frank's fantastic course inspired me to become an economist. Whether you've had the privilege of being his student or (especially if you have) not, you'll want to listen to his retirement lecture.
I was at first disappointed to learn that my retirement lecture would have to be delivered remotely. But since everyone's welcome to tune in, I'm delighted that several thousand people have already signed up. Register here to join us at noon tomorrow: .
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Come work in our lab as a Predoc! . We use diverse tools: machine learning, experiments, observational causal inference. Cross disciplines - economics, psychology, computer science . To answer questions about people. & hopefully make the world a bit better.
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Well, this was a great way to greet the new decade! Obviously Cass is being overly generous but I'll take it! :).
Best nonfiction book of the decade? Scarcity, by @m_sendhil and Eldar Shafir.
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Great prizes week for behavioral science:.Richard Thaler @R_Thaler - Nobel.Betsy Levy Paluck @betsylevyp - Macarthur Fellow @macfound.
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Easy to get randomized evaluations wrong. Great #EvaluationToolkit from @JPAL_NA on how to do them well:
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What will AI do to economy? Who knows. Let's prepare for the unpredictable: (happy to get star trek ref in).
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@robinhanson @AidanOGara_ @R_Thaler @evavivalt @ATabarrok @shoshievass Agreed! But worth changing the "If you fail" framing? Going the non-academic route (or leaving ABD) is not a failure but using one of the options a PhD program offers to your advantage. I fear PhD stress is in small part due to such negative framings.
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Great job market paper on topic close to my heart: algorithmic hypothesis generation. (As a bonus, I get be proud to have had the chance to advise a student as creative as Raf).
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Possibly biased - this symposium on econometrics in J.Economic.Perspective is great .
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We talk about algorithms and data. We should spend more time talking about metrics. @math_rachel lays out teh case persuasively:
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Behavioral economists have a lot to offer in the building and evaluation of LLMs. Exhibit 1:.
How can the same LLM pass AP math and also claim 9.10 > 9.9?. Our #ICML2024 paper: LLMs are wrong in ways that people can't predict. Benchmarks can be misleading because people decide how LLMs are used. Solution: measure LLM alignment with the "human generalization function" ๐งต
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New article on how to increase diversity in the economics profession by Amanda Bayer, @GaryAHoover Ebonya Washington. A must read. Great data and essential suggestions.
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Interesting paper on sleep. .
"Why Don't We Sleep Enough?" In a field experiment using wearable devices, multiple surveys, and randomized monetary incentives we explore the role of behavioral biases in sleep choice. Here the @iza_bonn DP Joint with @MalloryAvery16 and Peiran Jiao.
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And now not behind a paywall.
Long slog but finally our paper on machine learning applied to bail decisions. @jure @hima_bindu.
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Making papers accessible in this way is such a service to the profession!.
Does alleviating a worker's financial strain allow them to better focus at work and therefore be more productive?. From @supKaur (@berkeleyecon), @m_sendhil (@ChicagoBooth), @suannaoh (@PSEinfo), @FrankSchilbach (@MITEcon):.
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A great opportunity for anyone interested in social applications of Machine Learning. Last year was a real joy, despite it being virtual. This year might end up being even more fun.
(1/2) Our Center is hosting its Machine Learning in Economics Summer Institute this summer! . - Open to 2nd year+ Ph.D. students and Jr faculty.- Leading faculty in ML, Econ, and Policy.- New methods, new tools, and big questions!. Apply by May 18 here:
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My secret wish for our new paper (w/ Jon Kleinberg & @manish_raghavan): that we had titled it. โMy relationship with Doritos (Bonus: may explain your love/hate of social media)โ . ๐งตto explain what connects Doritos, machine learning, and user data. 1/N.
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Hiring a few awesome people to build something delightful and impactful that combines behavioral science and technology. Come learn, work and laugh with us. Or pass this on to someone who will.
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2/2: If you see a regulation that is keeping us from fighting the coronavirus effectively please tell us here:.
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This was such a fun conversation to have - even if it is 50% as fun to listen to, it's worth the listen! .(also @aleks_madry - great podcast title!).
Our next (and final for this season) guest on the Before AGI podcast is @m_sendhil ! We discuss algorithmic bias, AI in healthcare, and AI in public policy, as well as his journey from computer science to behavioral economics (and back!). [Due to technical difficulties, this
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1/2 .Fresh starts, temptation bundling, want vs should. Some of my favorite behavior change ideas come from @katy_milkman. Her new book (out today!) is a must-read: insightful and well-written.
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Are you working on AI and behavior change? . Submit to the AAAI workshop on it: #AAAI2021 #ai4bc Deadline: 11/9/20. Invited speakers include @Susan_Athey @munmun10 Eric Tchetgen, Jon Kleinberg (& me!).
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Interesting thread for prospective econ PhD students
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Fighting poverty w/ unlikely data including from space-aka can you spot north korea here?
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Amazing - and tragic- finding.
Using GPS data that tracks millions of smartphone users, we document voting wait times in polling places around the US during the 2016 Pres Election. We find a large racial gap: voters in all-black neighborhoods wait 29% longer than those in all-white areas (see figure below).
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Must read for all economists, not just those who study race. Great to economic thinking being updated to recognize the social construction of racial categories.
Here's a short new paper on what constructivist theories of race mean for empirical discrimination research. I survey a huge literature from (mostly) outside econ about racial perceptions and discrimination law on the way to two basic points. ๐งต๐.
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Outrageous. Reminded of this excellent paper . "Our results suggest that the origins of public misinformedness and polarization are more likely to lie in the content of ordinary news or the avoidance of news altogether as they are in overt fakery.".
Sinclair's local TV stations across the country are set to air the discredited "Plandemic" researcher's conspiracy theory about Dr. Fauci this weekend. The segment that is set to air suggests Fauci is responsible for the creation of the coronavirus.
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9/ As a field, we put a lot of energy into hypothesis testing: thoughtful data collection, meticulous experiments, creative natural experiments. But where do these hypotheses come from? . We think ML can improve this pre-scientific stage of our work. /end.
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Why are people suddenly googling "iphone slow"? My latest @NYtimes @UpshotNYT column. http://t.co/HjV6g8n3Ek.
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Wonderful article.
"Povertyย is not so much about the choices people make, but rather what they find themselves forced to choose between." - @JoWolffBSG
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This is such a good question - even if put aside the huge social consequences, pure self-interest seems to suggest landlords shouldn't evict. What's the bottleneck to the Coase theorem here? @CassSunstein @R_Thaler.
Here's what I don't understand about the eviction wave that's underway. Especially in weaker housing markets, where everybody's losing their income, what's the incentive not to work with a tenant? Are landlords sure they can find another?.
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Obama has darker skin in attack ads linking him to crime
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+1.
That fireworks display was a more impressive display of technical and logistical competence than the entire federal COVID response.
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This is not quite a cash transfer but it can serve the same purpose for small business @AndrewYang @PaulFNiehaus #UBI .
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My latest @NYTimes column tackles the uncontroversial topic of discrimination. http://t.co/LTyNZwLRJT.
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Always so hard to judge which parts of our preferences are reflective values and what parts are simply automatic biases.
Consuming brands instead of generics also seems like interesting case of status quo bias. but what if people derive substantial utility from believing brands are better? @M_Sendhil
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Astounding creativity here
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Poverty changes how you answer this question. Nice summary of research with Shah, @jiayingzhao and Shafir
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Inspiring. wish I'd done something this good while in grad school!
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3/3: Many people missed the most hopeful part of the paper: the original manufacturer was eager to fix the problem and has made progress. I believe others will be equally as well.
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2/3: Thanks to @ChicagoBooth and contributions to our (soon to be launched) Center for Applied AI, we have the resources to do this pro bono, as a social good.
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A terrific list.
@harini824 @random_walker Algorithms are used differently than human decision makers:.- people assume algorithms are objective or error-free.- algorithms more likely to be implemented with no process for recourse.- algorithms used at scale.- algorithms are cheap. read more:
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Video is great -including nice illustration of DRM (false memories) amongst the poor.
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Stop worrying about top 1% and start worrying about the bottom 20% My @nytimes column. http://t.co/Mn3DGpXbTk.
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This is so moving. Powerfully brings home how unforgiving life can be when you are not economically privileged
When you're in a hole, why would you dig yourself deeper? This week: how scarcity affects our lives. #trypod
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Filed under: .05 arbitrary and possibly deadly
JAMA rejected this letter from my colleagues & me ("low priority"), so we're publishing on twitter, hoping JAMA will take it more seriously.
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Very sympathetic to the pain of data access - limited access serves neither science nor the public interest. I'm part of a team (w/ @khay @oziadias +others) to launch an open resource that makes data available to all researchers. They will announce a launch soon!.
@jim_savage_ @mathbabedotorg @m_sendhil I think youโre right, but Sendhil underplays that aspect of his research to the point of ignoring it entirely. Also, that part of things generally never gets written up in the final published paper, so techniques for doing it effectively are not well disseminated.
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It's terrific that there's so much socially responsible research happening at business schools and that @FT is recognizing it.
๐We are excited to have been one of the recipients of the @FT Responsible Business Education Awards 2022! . Our work highlights "large-scale racial bias in the algorithms used by insurers to predict millions of US patientsโ healthcare needs.". Read more:
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Great post on how behavioral science can and importantly CANT promote healthy behavior @lorimelichar.
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What the fight against Ebola can teach us about how to fight covid19 . (Includes surprising findings from this RCT: .. @BilalSiddiqi @jhaushofer.
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A bit of clarification on potential confusion caused by my article. @noahpinion @rajivatbarnard @jwdink
http://t.co/SHymUjORAK.
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8/ Why we are excited about this? . First, this is a disturbing fact about judges. A personโs face shouldn't matter at all; and definitely not this much. Second, the technique is more broadly useful: anywhere there is rich dimensional data about human behavior.
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Cool - a good reminder that each day (and life) is finite. The irony of me tweeting this from my computer is not lost on me.
We found this great tool that nudges you to do something other than waste time on your computer. Install it in Chrome - whenever you open a new tab, it tells you how much sunlight is left in your day: Very nice, @bnchrchย ๐
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This is a great chance to work on a project that combines behavioral science, experimentation and machine learning. Not to mention with some awesome people in @katy_milkman @lyleungar and @jannspiess.
BCFG has a job opening for a postdoc with background in machine learning or econometrics. For more please visit
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We could use your help to a good cause. Collecting field studies on racial discrimination against Blacks in United States. Focus is on those using randomization or pseudo-randomization. Some (tragic) examples already here. What are we missing?.
Colleagues and I are trying to collect recent examples of racial discrimination that have been documented in the field using quasi-random (eg correspondence studies) methods. Especially interested in examples outside of economics. Any suggestions? Thanks!.@m_sendhil.
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Looks like a cool paper - excited to read. The idea that scarcity shifts attention and so can have *positive* and negative effects is important. It showed up in these papers too but is often overlooked.
New NBER working paper presenting causal evidence of scarcity on decision-making w/ Guenther Fink & Kelsey Jack #endowmenteffect #scarcity. ๐ A summary in 9 tweets๐ Spoiler: Scarcity *improves* decision-making @CFCamerer @alexoimas @TimHarford @m_sendhil.
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If you're knowledgable about NLP are looking to work on a project that can really impact society this is a great opportunity. .
Interested in connecting NLP/text analysis to research on social policy and inequality? Come work with us! (@aadukia @alexeble @UChicago_RCC @DoraSzasz @emileigharrison)
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Had a great time on @NickMHobson 's podcast talking behavioral science apps. He's as interesting as his mustache would lead you to believe. The other Pique (@getpiqueapp) cofounders were there too-Mike Norton & @1becweeks .
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Behavioral finance pioneer Terry Odean teaching online course on money management:
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Excited that the Journal of Economic Perspectives did a "symposium" on criminal justice! E. Even more excited that the editors clearly worked to include more diverse perspectives than one typically finds in economics! . @AEAjournals @TimothyTTaylor
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2/2 Faculty includes .Susan Athey @Susan_Athey .Josh Blumenstock @jblumenstock .Amitabh Chandra @amitabhchandra2.Victor Chernozhukov @VC31415 .Matt Gentzkow.Avi Goldfarb @avicgoldfarb .Guido Imbens .& organizers Ziad Obermeyer @ziadoo Jann Spiess @jannspiess + me and Jens Ludwig.
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I think this might be our most careful paper on this question
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Great read. "If an academic has said little or nothing that he regrets, thereโs.a real problem"
The statements I most regret making - starting with one that really makes me squirm. #Ouch #MeaCulpa @RandyEBarnett
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Excited to meet the next generation of computational social scientists! . Apply if you haven't already.
Super excited to announce that @m_sendhil will visit the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science this summer @DukeU alongside @duncanjwatts @davidlazer @dfreelon Cynthia Rudin, and others. Only 15 days left to apply:
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Are we giving patients choices or burdening them with choices?
NEW: In doctors' offices, patients are not in the best position to make good decisions - evidence & implications.
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