Game shows provide vivid examples of high-stakes decision-making biases. Previously, I’ve discussed non-rational bidding on The Price is Right, and today I’d like to consider contestant behavior on ...

“My father always called me a ‘useless article,’ ” Chris Davis tells me, driving through Bristol, England. “He said it in a rather nice way, of course.” In the midst of my research I had come up to ...

It has been almost two years since the economy recovered fully from the coronavirus pandemic, but more than 3 million workers are still missing from the workforce. University of Chicago economics ...

Everywhere I look, I see people in a frenzied hurry to get to their jobs and other activities. It makes me wonder if idleness has become a lost art. How often do we sit serenely without busying ...

Writer Oliver Burkeman wanders through the archives thinking about the pros and cons of idleness. Helping with his enquiries are Bagpuss, Reagan and The Slobs, among others. Show more The writer, ...

I was amused and shocked a few years ago when the first kids I know asked for palm pilots for Christmas. Cell phones I could see — we are a yakking culture — but palm pilots for 11-year-olds? Were ...