Today's Links: Behavioural Economists in "Treasury" and "Agencies"

1. Department of Finance Capacity Review July 2009: A number of areas where further skills developments were seen to be needed:
• Policy analysis
• Evaluation skills
• More economists, particularly skills in behavioural economics
• More expertise in regulatory impact analysis

2. Businessandleadership.com: The UK’s Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) has launched a Behavioural Economics Think Tank (BETT) to "advance understanding around disparities between what consumers say they’ll do when making choices about brands and what they actually do". The think tank is being led by IPA president Rory Sutherland, who is focusing on behavioural economics during his presidential term as he believes it can transform marketing effectiveness.

3. Brief biographies: of the members of the IPA's Behavioural Economics Think Tank.

4. The Institute of Advertising Practitioners of Ireland hosted a talk by Rory Sutherland earlier toay in the National Gallery of Ireland.

5. "Why Agencies Should Adopt Behavioural Economics to Achieve Success" - Rory Sutherland talks on the 4th June in Belfast.

6. TED.com: A profile of Rory Sutherland (Vice-Chairman of Oglivy), and a link to his TED-talk: "Life lessons from an ad man". Here's a link to Rory's blog.

7. The Irish Marketing Society has organised a seminar on behavioural economics to take place on the 18th May. Details here.

8. Karl Deeter: Behavioral Economics & Arrears - avoid repossession by reward.

9. TED talk by Sebastian Wernicke: How to create a guaranteed killer TED talk with the aid of statistical analysis. HT: Garr's posterous.

TED Blog and Conference

"Next time you see someone in a Ferrari, don't think: 'They're greedy." Think: "This is someone incredibly vulnerable and in need of love." - Alain De Botton,

Some interesting sessions at the recent TED conference. The blog has some videos such as Alain de Botton's talk.

The behavioural economist in me has led me in particular to want to know more about the following topics:

Karen Armstrong on Compassion (Armstrong's books on religion are outstanding)

Loretta Napoleoni on Terrorism and Criminality

Misha Glenny on Organised Crime

Paul Romer on Charter Cities - These ideas seem to getting mixed reviews on some of the websites but it has occupied a relatively high "mind-share" for me since I saw his video talks. Available on the side bar of this blog.