Secrets of the Moneylab: How Behavioral Economics Can Improve Your Business

Taking behavioral economics from the cocktail party to the boardroom, with dramatic results. Books like Predictably Irrational and Nudge have brought behavioral economics into the mainstream. But while we all marvel at how different - and weird - real people behave compared to the "rational actors" of traditional economics, in the end we go back to business as usual. After all, what do a few laboratory experiments have to do with making a buck? As economist Kay-Yut Chen has shown, quite a bit.

Chen started behavioral economics research at Hewlett-Packard, founding the first such "moneylab" at any company, let alone one in the Fortune 500. His groundbreaking research into human behavior has led to tangible results for HP. In fact, he has saved the company millions of dollars by showing how changing the right conditions can make people behave very differently. Secrets of the Moneylab offers practical lessons being put to use right now at HP and other leading companies. It explains, for instance, how to:

• Use incentives to influence employees, suppliers, and buyers
• Determine whom to trust, and how much
• Reduce the negative effects of irrational behavior by noticing patterns that don't seem logical-but are utterly predictable
• Overcome the human tendency to game the system
• Profit from motives beyond money

Chen and science writer Marina Krakovsky reveal in plain English how to translate the counterintuitive findings of behavioral economics into concrete action steps for businesses of any size. Secrets of the Moneylab shows how tackling your real-world problems like a scientist can open up entirely new realms of possibility and profit.

©2010 Kay-Yut Chen, Marina Krakovsky (P)2010 Gildan Media Corp