The problem with data is that it says a lot, but it also says nothing. 'Big data' is terrific, but it's usually thin. To understand why something is happening, we have to engage in both forensics and guess work. — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
One cost, for the lonely: If you want to be interesting, the one thing you shouldn't do is really focus on the fact that… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
It's hard to get people to empathize with the poor. You can get some people to sympathize with the poor, but to empathize is… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Eat better or work out more, and youll see the benefits weeks, months or years down the road. Sleep more, and youll see the… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Marketing is selling an ad to a firm. So, in some sense, a lot of marketing is about convincing a CEO, 'This is a… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Organizations talk about spending their lives firefighting - dealing with the next problem without having the bandwidth to deal with what is down the… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Things that price at $4.99 sell very differently than things that price at $5. — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
People go shopping, we spend on so many things, and we just don't know. We don't know the prices of things. But gasoline, even… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
You can get pictures into what people are sort of thinking about others. Just go onto Google and type 'Why are Indians' and then… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
If women's choices - such as taking time off to rear children - make them less productive in the economy, does adolescent boys' behavior… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Policymakers think that if they get the abstractions right, that will drive behavior in the desired direction. But the world happens in real time. — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Faced with a time shortage, we squeeze tasks into the nooks and crannies of our calendar, leaving less and less time to switch between… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Busy people all make the same mistake: they assume they are short on time, which of course, they are. But time is not their… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
There's a popular image of people who don't save for the future as lacking in self-control. But the reason saving is so hard has… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Even when a man and a woman perform equally well in a task - say, solving math problems - men are more willing to… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
Our outrage at inequality is primal. But primal emotions are not always noble ones. Of course, when I see a colleague receive some award,… — Sendhil Mullainathan Copy Share Image
