A short break: less fatigue, but no improvement in performance
Across 19 publications and more than 2,300 people, breaks brought a little more energy, but overall performance did not improve.
Economics, work and decisions
Looking for work, choosing between options and making decisions about money are familiar situations. Researchers can study them through experiments, surveys or records of what happened. This collection makes those differences visible.
What to look for in these studies
A result from one country, organization or simulated decision does not automatically apply elsewhere. Look at whether incentives were real, how participants were selected and which alternatives were compared. These readings are not financial advice.
- Was the decision real or simulated?
- Which participants and context were studied?
- What alternatives or incentives were compared?
Explore the research
People who found meaning in boring tasks said they felt more motivated
People who made their tasks more interesting reported greater motivation in the area that mattered most to them, in a Danish survey. The association did not hold in another survey.
More procrastination went along with more stress and less satisfaction
More than 2,500 people in Germany reported how much they procrastinated. Younger people did so more, and the survey cannot show what causes what.
Calorie labels in walking minutes did not show a clear change in purchases
Across ten workplace cafeterias in England, the average barely moved. By site: four decreased, one increased, and five showed no difference.
Sugary-drink sales rose overall but fell per person
In Mexico, total sales after the tax exceeded the prior average. Adjusting for population and the economy, the model estimated a per-person decrease.
Warned in time, people manually checked more when the drone failed
With a simulated drone that failed more often, people given a verbal warning manually checked 63% of the time; without a warning, 22%.
People who were more satisfied with their home workspace felt more productive
In a survey of 1,002 Dutch workers, those satisfied with their chair, equipment, and Wi-Fi also said they felt more productive.
Where resources were more unequal, the shared fund received less
In a laboratory game, the average contribution was nine units under less inequality and five under more. Outsiders preferred proportional contributions.
Before graduating, men already expected to earn more than women
Among 865 students in Switzerland, men expected salaries nearly 10% higher at graduation. These were expectations, not wages received.
Reviewing one complete option before moving to the next led to more correct answers
With four options containing four numbers each, accuracy was about 77% this way and 49% when comparing one attribute across all options. With two options, there was no clear difference.
A memory exercise increased a sales offer, but not a salary offer
Business students who recalled when being a woman and a professional went together made higher offers in a hypothetical sale, but not in a salary negotiation.
Similar applications with another name received a different response
Before May 2020, names perceived as White received more responses. In the following six weeks, the pattern reversed, with weak evidence.
Women spent more time on housework at every age
Time-use diaries from ten industrialized countries. In Italy, women spent 226 minutes a day and men 50; in Finland, the figures were 163 and 110.
A rental inquiry with an Arabic male name received fewer replies
The estimated response probability was 16% with an Arabic male name and 42% with a Finnish female name, across 800 listings in Finland.
Eating better was associated with more food wasted and more irrigation water used to grow it
A U.S. estimate found that producing discarded food required less land but more water and pesticides.
People accepted the same pay less often when the distribution was more unequal
In a short online task, a person’s own pay stayed the same. Even so, people accepted less often when group rewards were more unequal.
In Sweden, women’s résumés received more responses
With fictional profiles, the advantage was greater in jobs where women were the majority. No difference was seen in male-majority or mixed jobs.
Managers chose the in-office profile more often for promotion
With fictional profiles, hybrid and remote workers trailed in-office workers for promotions and raises, with no clear difference between hybrid and remote.
When job search cost less, people searched more; a message made them set a higher minimum
In a simulated job search, lower costs led to more effort and more pay per round. With a message, the minimum accepted was higher.
With broad goals in mind, people said they would save more of an unexpected sum
Students in Poland divided an imaginary lottery prize: 59% for saving when thinking about broad goals, and 43% when thinking about concrete actions.
A gap in work history reduced selections by about 20%
Fictional hospitality résumés with a pandemic-era gap also received lower ratings for commitment and readiness.
More people found work, and sooner, with job-search support
For people with severe mental health conditions, employment increased, but there was no overall improvement in health or quality of life.
General risk questions predicted better than money questions
Among 304 adults in North Carolina, discussing risk across several areas predicted a financial task better than asking about money alone.
As a couple, they preferred to wait for money more than when deciding alone
Among 134 married couples in Vietnam, deciding together was associated with less preference for immediate rewards, but no relationship appeared for actual savings.
The reference price mattered less when a purchase could be real
Across three tests in Poland, the earlier figure tended to shift what people said they would pay. With a possible purchase, the effect was smaller or absent.
Water and development mattered more when a price was shown
New Zealand council members chose among hypothetical urban plans. Cultural impacts, described only in words, did not have a consistent effect.
Wages rose alongside the minimum wage, but less in agriculture
In the United States from 1990 to 2014, each 1% rise in the minimum wage was associated with about 0.4% higher hourly pay. The link was weaker in agriculture.
After a minimum-wage rule, investment in research increased
In China, from 2004 onward, that investment grew after several years in more exposed firms, but not under every measure of exposure.
Higher pay brought more people back, but not better answers
With higher pay, more workers on an online platform completed follow-up. Response quality did not improve.
In a hurry, people chose safety for gains and risk for losses
In two lab experiments with young adults, 37 and 36 participants returned to the option they had chosen more often as rounds went on.
Managers paid less when they could keep what was left over
In a German lab, those acting as managers offered just over €8 when they could keep the surplus, and just over €10 when they could not.
Swedish-origin résumés received more responses than several foreign-origin profiles
At restaurants and cafés in Sweden, fictional profiles born in the country received a positive response in 21% of cases, compared with 5% for Somali-origin profiles.
A Red Cross donation and pay prompted different forms of cooperation
In an online game with groups of five, donation was associated with full cooperation, while pay was associated with fewer people refusing to cooperate.
