Decision Science News

Practice and experience that come with age may offset much of the adverse impact from slipping brainpower, say researchers at the Columbia Business School. They acknowledge inevitable cognitive decline. But they conclude that much of its effect can be countered in later life if problems and decisions remain familiar.

One popular paradigm for thinking about how to deal with the problem of global warming is to divide the problem into “wedges.” Thus, one wedge would be to increase solar power. Another would be to make buildings more energy efficient. And so on. Conceived of in this way,  according to Columbia’s Weber, changing human behavior may be most powerful wedge of all for one simple reason: It influences all of the others.

A survey conducted by FICO finds that while consumer deliquencies and credit card debt are expected to rise in the first half of 2015, the U.S. and Canada are less pessimistic than previous quarters regarding student loan delinquencies.     

The bad news: our brains slow down as we age. As early as our 30s, "fluid intelligence" starts deteriorating. The good news: another type of smarts—"crystallized intelligence," or the ability to use skills, knowledge, and experience—keeps growing until we get elderly. During a recent Public Affairs Forum at the Atlanta Fed's headquarters, Columbia University Business School Professor Eric Johnson explained how fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence affect people's financial decision making.

New research shows cognitive aging does not spell doom for financial decision-making

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Getting old doesn't spell doom when it comes to making important financial decisions, a team of researchers led by a University of California, Riverside assistant professor report in a just published paper.

Most Americans believe that climate change is occurring. But as a recentPew survey confirms, we don’t view it as a high-priority problem. After all, we reason, its most severe impacts won’t be felt for decades. So why change our behavior now?

At a time when the world’s 65-and-older population will double by 2035, policy changes have transferred many complex financial and healthcare decisions to individuals. Age-related declines in cognitive ability raise the specter that older adults facing major financial decisions may find them increasingly challenging. We explore whether knowledge and expertise accumulated from past decisions can offset age-related cognitive declines.

Voter behavior has long held mysteries for both politicians and psychologists. Why do poor and working-class voters across the US South, for instance, still line up to support conservative candidates whose policies favor the rich, weaken the social-safety net and limit access to affordable health care?

May 19, 2014We could save a lot of cash – and keep a lot of carbon from the air – if we tweaked our habits and focused a little more on saving energy. But we're all too busy. Here's what we need to change.ShareThis