The latest Undercover Economist columns are:
Student boozing - September 23rd
Why are kids fat? - September 30th
Why we’re all selfish - October 7th
The economics of ghettos - October 14th
In praise of bounty hunters - October 21st
They are all available on the Financial Times website, free of charge. There is even an RSS feed so that you can subscribe.
Being a considerate father, I am planning a monetary incentive scheme to improve my 18-year-old son’s marks at school. Instead of executing a relative’s bequest as decreed, I intend to spend the €7,000 rewarding good results. During three semesters, he will have to pass 48 preliminary tests, then the main exams in the fourth and last semester. How should I divide up the capital?
Robert Saverin, a grateful father
While marketers and psychologists have long known that you can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, it has taken economic theory a little while to catch up with the idea. Most economic models are populated by decision-makers who have more in common with the cool-headed logician Mr Spock than the impulsive and self-destructive Homer Simpson.
There are good reasons for that...
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