John List: Behavioral Economist and Author of The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale
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The content segments provide a comprehensive overview of the discussions between John A. List, an economics professor, and Guy Kawasaki, the host of the Remarkable People podcast. The conversations revolve around experimentation, field testing, and optimal decision making in various contexts, including economics, psychology, and business.
List emphasizes the importance of applying scientific principles to scaling products, services, or ideas. He cautions against blindly accepting academic papers or information from authoritative figures as the truth and suggests conducting small-scale pilots to test approaches. List encourages thorough examination of ideas for potential failures, believing that if an idea can withstand scrutiny, it has the potential to scale successfully.
The conversation also delves into the difference between behavioral economics and social psychology, with List predicting that competitors to psychology in behavioral economics may emerge from fields like computer science and sociology. He acknowledges the limitations of behavioral economics based on experiments conducted with undergraduates and emphasizes the importance of conducting field experiments or pilots in specific markets or industries to gain accurate insights.
List applies his framework of experimentation and testing to successful businesses and policy ideas, highlighting how they leverage economies of scale and meet the vital signs of success. He also discusses the concept of discrimination, including statistical discrimination and taste-based discrimination, and suggests that addressing discrimination requires a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms and motivations behind it.
List further explores the gender pay gap, explaining that it can be attributed to a combination of preferences and constraints. He shares the findings of a study conducted with Uber drivers and emphasizes the role of factors such as when and where drivers choose to work, as well as the learning effect. List believes that understanding preferences, constraints, and profit motives is crucial to comprehending discrimination based on race, gender, age, or sexual orientation.
The content segments provide a comprehensive overview of the discussions between John A. List, an ec