scholarly journals Optimising nudges and boosts for financial decisions under uncertainty

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matija Franklin ◽  
Tomas Folke ◽  
Kai Ruggeri
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Optimal Choice ◽  
Policy Tools ◽  
Behavioural Interventions ◽  
Financial Decisions ◽  
Critical Step ◽  
Decisions Under Uncertainty ◽  
Choice Under Uncertainty ◽  
The Us

Abstract Behavioural interventions that directly influence decision-making are increasingly popular policy tools. Two prominent interventions used are nudges, which promote an optimal choice without restricting options, and boosts, which promote individual capabilities to make more informed choices. Direct comparison is a critical step toward understanding the populations and contexts where they may be most efficient, or potentially complementary toward improving their effectiveness. Two trials in the US and Serbia (N = 1423) tested a series of choices under uncertainty using both nudge and boost interventions. In a replication setting, hypothetical and consequential decisions are used. Findings indicate that disclosure nudges and boosts, unlike social nudges, promote more advantageous financial decisions. Furthermore, the effects of disclosure nudges and boosts generally differ depending on loss and gain framing—boosts promoted more advantageous decisions under gain frames while disclosure nudges did so under loss frames. Finally, boosts were typically more effective for those who initially made suboptimal choices and sociodemographic factors did not mediate the effectiveness of the interventions. These insights provide clarity to highly nuanced, complex patterns across population behaviours in the context of financial choice under uncertainty and considerable implications for the design of interventions for policies that impact population behaviours.

scholarly journals Cognitive Overload: How to Protect Older Adults From Diminished Financial Decision-Making Capacity

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 770-770
Author(s):  
Christopher Heye ◽  
Elizabeth Loewy ◽  
Katie Wade
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Financial Security ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Financial Decisions ◽  
Decision Making Capacity ◽  
The Us ◽  
Financial Decision

Abstract The aging population in the US poses a major threat to the financial security of older adults and their families. Millions of older adults will need to successfully navigate a multitude of financial and legal issues if they are to safely manage their assets while they are alive, and then securely transfer trillions of dollars to their heirs in accordance with their wishes. But most older adults are less healthy than their younger counterparts, and 25% or more over 65 are likely to suffer from diminished decision-making capacity. In short, older adults in the US will have to make some of the most important financial decisions of their lives just as their decision-making capacity is in decline. We offer recommendations to make it easier for financial services firms, medical professionals, non-profit organizations, and technology companies to work together to find better solutions for managing the complex issues around diminished decision-making capacity that is only likely to worsen in the years ahead.

The United States and the Iranian Nuclear Programme

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Hurst
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Nixon Administration ◽  
Comprehensive Plan ◽  
The Us ◽  
Nuclear Issue ◽  
The Relationship

The United States, Iran and the Bomb provides the first comprehensive analysis of the US-Iranian nuclear relationship from its origins through to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. Starting with the Nixon administration in the 1970s, it analyses the policies of successive US administrations toward the Iranian nuclear programme. Emphasizing the centrality of domestic politics to decision-making on both sides, it offers both an explanation of the evolution of the relationship and a critique of successive US administrations' efforts to halt the Iranian nuclear programme, with neither coercive measures nor inducements effectively applied. The book further argues that factional politics inside Iran played a crucial role in Iranian nuclear decision-making and that American policy tended to reinforce the position of Iranian hardliners and undermine that of those who were prepared to compromise on the nuclear issue. In the final chapter it demonstrates how President Obama's alterations to American strategy, accompanied by shifts in Iranian domestic politics, finally brought about the signing of the JCPOA in 2015.

Would you Make the Right Decision? – Decision Making Biases in Economy - Related Dilemmas

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Gödör ◽  
Georgina Szabó
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Framing Effect ◽  
Economic Knowledge ◽  
Bank Account ◽  
Financial Decisions ◽  
Hungarian Population ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Right ◽  
Decision Making Biases

Abstract As they say, money can’t buy happiness. However, the lack of it can make people’s lives much harder. From the moment we open our first bank account, we have to make lots of financial decisions in our life. Should I save some money or should I spend it? Is it a good idea to ask for a loan? How to invest my money? When we make such decisions, unfortunately we sometimes make mistakes, too. In this study, we selected seven common decision making biases - anchoring and adjustment, overconfidence, high optimism, the law of small numbers, framing effect, disposition effect and gambler’s fallacy – and tested them on the Hungarian population via an online survey. In the focus of our study was the question whether the presence of economic knowledge helps people make better decisions? The decision making biases found in literature mostly appeared in the sample as well. It proves that people do apply them when making decisions and in certain cases this could result in serious and costly errors. That’s why it would be absolutely important for people to learn about them, thus increasing their awareness and attention when making decisions. Furthermore, in our research we did find some connection between decisions and the knowledge of economics, people with some knowledge of economics opted for the better solution in bigger proportion

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 1992–1996

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adekeye Adebajo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Tight Control ◽  
Double Standards ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
The Us ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Peacekeeping Missions

Egyptian scholar-diplomat Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s relationship with the UN Security Council was a difficult one, resulting eventually in him earning the unenviable record of being the only Secretary-General to have been denied a second term in office. Boutros-Ghali bluntly condemned the double standards of the powerful Western members of the Council—the Permanent Three (P3) of the US, Britain, and France—in selectively authorizing UN interventions in “rich men’s wars” in Europe while ignoring Africa’s “orphan conflicts.” The Council’s powerful members ignored many of his ambitious ideas, preferring instead to retain tight control of decision-making on UN peacekeeping missions. Boutros-Ghali worked with the Security Council to establish peacekeeping missions in Bosnia, Cambodia, Haiti, Rwanda, and Somalia.

Did Groupthink or Polythink Derail the 2016 Raqqa Offensive?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kasey Barr ◽  
Alex Mintz
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Study Analysis ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Case Study Analysis ◽  
The Us ◽  
Tactical Decisions

This chapter examines the effect of group dynamics on the 2016 decision within the administration of President Barack Obama to lead the international coalition in a mission to liberate Raqqa, Syria, from the Islamic State. The authors show that whereas the groupthink syndrome characterized the decision-making process of the US-led coalition’s decision to attack Raqqa, it was polythink that characterized the decision-making dynamics both in the US-led coalition and within the inner circle of Obama’s own foreign policy advisors. Through case-study analysis, the authors illustrate that groupthink is more likely in strategic decisions, whereas polythink is more likely in tactical decisions.

scholarly journals A Qualitative Study on the US Forest Service’s Risk Management Assistance Efforts to Improve Wildfire Decision-Making

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 344
Author(s):  
Courtney A. Schultz ◽  
Lauren F. Miller ◽  
Sarah Michelle Greiner ◽  
Chad Kooistra
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Perceived Value ◽  
Forest Service ◽  
The Us ◽  
Decision Biases ◽  
Line Officers

To support improved wildfire incident decision-making, in 2017 the US Forest Service (Forest Service) implemented risk-informed tools and processes, together known as Risk Management Assistance (RMA). The Forest Service is developing tools such as RMA to improve wildfire decision-making and implements these tools in complex organizational environments. We assessed the perceived value of RMA and factors that affected its use to inform the literature on decision support for fire management. We sought to answer two questions: (1) What was the perceived value of RMA for line officers who received it?; and (2) What factors affected how RMA was received and used during wildland fire events? We conducted a qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews with decision-makers to understand the contextualized and interrelated factors that affect wildfire decision-making and the uptake of a decision-support intervention such as RMA. We used a thematic coding process to analyze our data according to our questions. RMA increased line officers’ ability to communicate the rationale underlying their decisions more clearly and transparently to their colleagues and partners. Our interviewees generally said that RMA data analytics were valuable but did not lead to changes in their decisions. Line officer personality, pre-season exposure to RMA, local political dynamics and conditions, and decision biases affected the use of RMA. Our findings reveal the complexities of embracing risk management, not only in the context of US federal fire management, but also in other similar emergency management contexts. Attention will need to be paid to existing decision biases, integration of risk management approaches in the interagency context, and the importance of knowledge brokers to connect across internal organizational groups. Our findings contribute to the literature on managing change in public organizations, specifically in emergency decision-making contexts such as fire management.

scholarly journals No Limits of Acceptable Change: A Proposed Research Framework for Informing Visitor Use Management in the Context of Cultural Resources

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 377
Author(s):  
Zachary D. Miller ◽  
Wayne Freimund ◽  
Stefani A. Crabtree ◽  
Ethan P. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
National Park ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Cultural Resource ◽  
Limits Of Acceptable Change ◽  
The Us ◽  
Visitor Use ◽  
Material Evidence

Cultural resources are commonly defined as resources that provide material evidence of past human activities. These resources are unique, as they are both finite and non-renewable. This provides a challenge for traditional visitor use management since these resources have no limits of acceptable change. However, with nearly every national park in the US containing cultural resources, coupled with ever-growing visitation, it is essential that managers of parks and protected areas have the ability to make science-informed decisions about cultural resources in the context of visitor use management. We propose a framework that can help provide context and exploration for these challenges. Drawing on previous literature, this framework includes risk-based approaches to decision making about visitor use; visitor cognitions related to cultural resources; emotions, mood, and affect related to cultural resource experiences; creating and evaluating interpretive programs; deviant visitor behaviors related to cultural resources; and co-management.

scholarly journals An Exploratory Study of Research Data Governance in the U.S.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-142
Author(s):  
Inna Kouper ◽  
Anjanette H Raymond ◽  
Stacey Giroux
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
Data Governance ◽  
Knowledge Commons ◽  
Multiple Voices ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Commons ◽  
The U.S

AbstractMaking decisions regarding data and the overall credibility of research constitutes research data governance. In this paper, we present results of an exploratory study of the stakeholders of research data governance. The study was conducted among individuals who work in academic and research institutions in the US, with the goal of understanding what entities are perceived as making decisions regarding data and who researchers believe should be responsible for governing research data. Our results show that there is considerable diversity and complexity across stakeholders, both in terms of who they are and their ideas about data governance. To account for this diversity, we propose to frame research data governance in the context of polycentric governance of a knowledge commons. We argue that approaching research data from the commons perspective will allow for a governance framework that can balance the goals of science and society, allow us to shift the discussion toward protection from enclosure and knowledge resilience, and help to ensure that multiple voices are included in all levels of decision-making.

Personality, Social Identity, and Individual Differences in Multinational Decision-Making

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 848-852
Author(s):  
Gerald Matthews ◽  
Lauren Reinerman-Jones ◽  
Shawn Burke ◽  
Grace Teo ◽  
David Scribner
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Multicultural Competence ◽  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
The Us ◽  
Multiple Samples

Contemporary military operations require the US to partner with coalition nations, so that commanders must make effective decisions for multinational teams. The effectiveness of decision-making may depend on various factors. General decision-making competence and personality traits that promote interpersonal functioning may be advantageous in the team context. Sociocultural factors such as a strong nationalistic social identity may be harmful to decision-making in multinational teams. The current study ( N=696) examined correlates of a Situation Judgment Test (SJT) for multicultural decision-making ability in multiple samples. Predictors of better SJT performance included general decision-making ability, low nationalism, and various personality traits. Multivariate analyses discriminated multiple, independent predictors. Findings suggest assessment of the various strengths and weaknesses that shape the individual’s decision-making may inform training for multicultural competence.

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