33 readings with original sources
Economics, work and decisions
Looking for work, choosing between options and making decisions about money are familiar situations. Researchers can study them through experiments, surveys or records of what happened. This collection makes those differences visible.
What to look for in these studies
A result from one country, organization or simulated decision does not automatically apply elsewhere. Look at whether incentives were real, how participants were selected and which alternatives were compared. These readings are not financial advice.
- Was the decision real or simulated?
- Which participants and context were studied?
- What alternatives or incentives were compared?
Explore the research
- A short break: less fatigue, but no improvement in performance
- People who found meaning in boring tasks said they felt more motivated
- More procrastination went along with more stress and less satisfaction
- Calorie labels in walking minutes did not show a clear change in purchases
- Sugary-drink sales rose overall but fell per person
- Warned in time, people manually checked more when the drone failed
- People who were more satisfied with their home workspace felt more productive
- Where resources were more unequal, the shared fund received less
- Before graduating, men already expected to earn more than women
- Reviewing one complete option before moving to the next led to more correct answers
- A memory exercise increased a sales offer, but not a salary offer
- Similar applications with another name received a different response
- Women spent more time on housework at every age
- A rental inquiry with an Arabic male name received fewer replies
- Eating better was associated with more food wasted and more irrigation water used to grow it
- People accepted the same pay less often when the distribution was more unequal
- In Sweden, women’s résumés received more responses
- Managers chose the in-office profile more often for promotion
- When job search cost less, people searched more; a message made them set a higher minimum
- With broad goals in mind, people said they would save more of an unexpected sum
- A gap in work history reduced selections by about 20%
- More people found work, and sooner, with job-search support
- General risk questions predicted better than money questions
- As a couple, they preferred to wait for money more than when deciding alone
- The reference price mattered less when a purchase could be real
- Water and development mattered more when a price was shown
- Wages rose alongside the minimum wage, but less in agriculture
- After a minimum-wage rule, investment in research increased
- Higher pay brought more people back, but not better answers
- In a hurry, people chose safety for gains and risk for losses
- Managers paid less when they could keep what was left over
- Swedish-origin résumés received more responses than several foreign-origin profiles
- A Red Cross donation and pay prompted different forms of cooperation