Statistical illiteracy can have an enormously negative impact on decision making. This volume of collected papers brings together applied and theoretical research on risks and decision making across the fields of medicine, psychology, and economics. Collectively, the essays demonstrate why the frame in which statistics are communicated is essential for broader understanding and sound decision making, and that understanding risks and uncertainty has wide-reaching implications for daily life. Gerd Gigerenzer provides a lucid review and catalog of concrete instances of heuristics, or rules of thumb, that people and animals rely on to make decisions under uncertainty, explaining why these are very often more rational than probability models. After a critical look at behavioral theories that do not model actual psychological processes, the book concludes with a call for a heuristic revolution that will enable us to understand the ecological rationality of both statistics and heuristics, and bring a dose of sanity to the study of rationality.

Organizations make thousands of automated, operational decisions every week. How well they make these decisions drives profitability, reputation and customer satisfaction. Decision modeling helps them understand, automate and improve them

"The main point of this encyclopedia is to provide a comprehensive set of definitions and explanations of key concepts in behavioral economics provided by respected researchers. Written by those who are publishing in the field, the encyclopedia entries are rigorous, timely, and up-to-date. For those interested in the increasingly important area of behavioral economics and the related fields of economic psychology, and institutional, evolutionary, and experimental economics, this volume provides conceptual clarifications and insights. Moreover, the various entries are largely written in plain English to be easily understandable to scholars from across the disciplinary divide, students at different stages of their education, as well to public policy experts, journalists, politicians, and members of the general public. All entries include references for those interested in venturing further into the realm of behavioral economics."--From Preface.

The first and only encyclopedia to focus on the economic and financial behaviors of consumers, investors, and organizations, including an exploration of how people make good—and bad—economic decisions. Traditional economic theories speculate how and when people should spend money. But consumers don't always behave as expected and often adopt strategies that might appear unorthodox yet are, at times, more effective than the rule prescribed by conventional wisdom. This groundbreaking text examines the ways in which people make financial decisions, whether it is because they are smart but atypical in their choices ... or just irrational decision makers. A leading authority on behavioral economics, Morris Altman and more than 150 expert contributors delve into key concepts in behavioral economics, economic psychology, behavioral finance, neuroeconomics, experimental economics, and institutional economics to help inform economic models based on reality, not theory. Through 250 informative entries, the book explores various aspects of the subject including decision making, economic analysis, and public policy. In addition to introducing concepts to readers new to the subject, the book sheds light on more advanced financial topics in a manner that is objective, comprehensive, and accessible.

How tech companies like Google, Airbnb, StubHub, and Facebook learn from experiments in our data-driven world—an excellent primer on experimental and behavioral economics Have you logged into Facebook recently? Searched for something on Google? Chosen a movie on Netflix? If so, you've probably been an unwitting participant in a variety of experiments—also known as randomized controlled trials—designed to test the impact of different online experiences. Once an esoteric tool for academic research, the randomized controlled trial has gone mainstream. No tech company worth its salt (or its share price) would dare make major changes to its platform without first running experiments to understand how they would influence user behavior. In this book, Michael Luca and Max Bazerman explain the importance of experiments for decision making in a data-driven world. Luca and Bazerman describe the central role experiments play in the tech sector, drawing lessons and best practices from the experiences of such companies as StubHub, Alibaba, and Uber. Successful experiments can save companies money—eBay, for example, discovered how to cut $50 million from its yearly advertising budget—or bring to light something previously ignored, as when Airbnb was forced to confront rampant discrimination by its hosts. Moving beyond tech, Luca and Bazerman consider experimenting for the social good—different ways that governments are using experiments to influence or “nudge” behavior ranging from voter apathy to school absenteeism. Experiments, they argue, are part of any leader's toolkit. With this book, readers can become part of “the experimental revolution.”

As business becomes increasingly complex and global, decision-makers must act more rapidly and accurately, based on the best available evidence. Modern data mining and analytics is indispensable for doing this. Real-World Data Mining demystifies current best practices, showing how to use data mining and analytics to uncover hidden patterns and correlations, and leverage these to improve all business decision-making. Drawing on extensive experience as a researcher, practitioner, and instructor, Dr. Dursun Delen delivers an optimal balance of concepts, techniques and applications. Without compromising either simplicity or clarity, Delen provides enough technical depth to help readers truly understand how data mining technologies work. Coverage includes: data mining processes, methods, and techniques; the role and management of data; tools and metrics; text and web mining; sentiment analysis; and integration with cutting-edge Big Data approaches. Throughout, Delen's conceptual coverage is complemented with application case studies (examples of both successes and failures), as well as simple, hands-on tutorials.

This work focuses on one of ethics' most insidious problems: the inability to make clear and consistent choices in everyday life. The practical tools and techniques in this book can help readers design a set of personal standards, based on sound ethical reasoning, for reducing everyday compromises.