Neuroeconomics
Do we really get more cautious with money as we age? It depends on how you ask
Do people really grow more cautious with money as they age? A meta-analysis of 46 studies finds the answer hinges on how researchers measure risk, with surveys and psychological games telling opposite stories.
A lab experiment reveals a hidden bias against artificial agents
People cooperated with machines and humans alike in one-shot games, but in repeated play they exploited artificial agents more, defecting even when they expected the machine to cooperate, a new lab study finds.
What brain scans reveal about the gender gap in financial risk-taking
Why do women tend to take fewer financial risks than men? A brain-imaging study offers evidence that a link between emotion, numbers, and future-thinking regions relates to caution in women, but not men.
A study asked what makes Gen Z employees adaptable. Here’s what it found
A study of 270 young workers finds that creativity and problem-solving predict workplace adaptability better than memory or attention, with the most useful skills shifting between start-ups and established firms.
The genetic lottery weighs in: An extra year of school appears to boost earnings by 8%
Using random genetic variation as a stand-in for a controlled experiment, researchers estimate that one extra year of schooling raises earnings by about 8% in Norway, higher than conventional methods suggest.
Crypto’s “ecology of noise” and how investors try to survive it
A study of nineteen cryptocurrency investors finds that being flooded with conflicting information often produces exhaustion, anxiety, and snap decisions, suggesting that in crypto markets, more information can mean worse choices.
Financial chores take minutes a day but deliver outsized stress, study finds
New research using American Time Use Survey data finds that financial tasks take just 8.3 minutes a day on average but rank among the most stressful and least enjoyable activities, with sharp differences by gender, income, and education.
Knowing more about Bitcoin makes investors more anxious, not bolder
A study of young Indonesian crypto investors found that more Bitcoin knowledge was linked to greater anxiety about missing out, and that this anxiety was associated with a lower, not higher, intention to invest.
The brain chemical behind your money moves: How dopamine shapes financial choices
A new review pulls together decades of research on how dopamine shapes financial decisions, from risk-taking to fairness to learning from feedback.
When illness leads to illegality: How a cancer diagnosis reshapes the decision to commit a crime
A study of Danish administrative records finds that cancer diagnoses are linked to a 14% rise in criminal convictions, driven by lost income, shorter survival horizons, and psychological distress.