Self-control Problems - Publications - Faculty & Research

Overcoming Overconfidence: Teamwork and Self-Control

This paper analyzes interactions between agents who are overconfident regarding their own future self-control relative to others. The paper considers the problem of incentivizing several such agents, and compares two methods: assigning work individually to each... View Details

August 2013
Article

The Timing of Pay

By: Christopher Parsons and E. Van Wesep

There exists large and persistent variation in not only how, but when employees are paid, a fact unexplained by existing theory. This paper develops a simple model of optimal pay timing for firms. When workers have self-control problems, they under-save... View Details

Keywords: Payday Lending; Hyperbolic Discounting; Self-control Problems; Pay Frequency; Payday Loan Legislation; Paycheck Frequency; Time Inconsistency; Wages; Behavior; Employee Relationship Management

Citation

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2018
Working Paper

Channeled Attention and Stable Errors -- Previous Working Version

By: Tristan Gagnon-Bartsch, Matthew Rabin and Joshua Schwartzstein

A common critique of models of mistaken beliefs is that people should recognize their error after observations they thought were unlikely. This paper develops a framework for assessing when a given error is likely to be discovered, in the sense that the error-maker... View Details

Keywords: Perception; Behavior; Theory; Situation or Environment

Citation

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17 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 17, 2009

outcome? Would similar problems arise in Gujarat state, where the project had been relocated? Purchase this case: http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=709029 PublicationsAre Licensing Markets... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

20 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Blind Spots: We’re Not as Ethical as We Think

unethical actions are occurring without intent, we need to solve those problems as well. Our book is an attempt to move in this direction. Q: What are ethical blind spots, and how do they influence our decisions? A: There are many. But a... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

18 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Stuck in Commuter Hell? You Can Still Be Productive

certain types of people: People with lower “trait self-control": Workers with high levels of trait self-control have a keen ability to regulate their behavior, thoughts, and emotions. These employees set goals for themselves, keep... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

03 Dec 2008
What Do You Think?

Can Housing and Credit be “Nudged” Back to Health?

too little on the actual behavior of mere humans, which is beset by "bounded rationality" (limits on the complexity we can deal with) as well as our limited self-control (inability to resist "temptation"). They... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

11 Aug 2014
HBS Case

The Business of Behavioral Economics

then they'll eat better." But behavioral economics suggests that people make mistakes in their thinking. For example, we have self-control problems that can lead us to knowingly "misbehave." Such biases are... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage; Health

14 May 2020
Research & Ideas

What Leaders Can Do to Fight the COVID Fog

goes, ‘Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its students.’ So, if time is of the essence, how to best think and frame the problems we need to solve with our teams to survive this crisis? What is sequence of those... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

19 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 19, 2018

theory, happen to also tell her how unlikely her theory is. We investigate which combinations of errors, situations, and preferences tend to induce such incidental learning vs. factors that render erroneous beliefs stable. We show, for example, that a person may never... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

10 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 10

teaming: gathering experts in temporary groups to solve problems they may be encountering for the first and only time. This flexible approach was essential to the completion of the Water Cube, the building that hosted swimming and diving... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

21 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: December 21

self-control. We focus on children aged between 5 and 15 as the literature suggests that self-control develops within such age range. We ask each child to toss a fair coin in private and to record the outcome (white or black) on a paper... View Details

Publications