In this episode, we explore with Marta Serra-Garcia the paradoxes of human behavior in the realms of self-deception and lie detection. Marta’s research, rooted in behavioral and experimental economics, questions why lying persists in a society that values morality. We delve into her experiments that examine how people reconcile their self-image with material interests, the timing of incentive information in ethical decision-making, and the effectiveness of algorithms in detecting deception.

Marta Serra-Garcia is an Associate Professor of Economics and Strategy at the UC San Diego Rady School of Management. Specializing in behavioral and experimental economics, her acclaimed work focuses on the dynamics of ethical decision-making and its influence on behaviors like lying and charitable giving. A prolific researcher, Marta’s work has been published in esteemed journals, earning her a place among the 2020 Best 40 under 40 MBA Professors.

You can find her paper on self-deception here and her paper on lie detection here.

In this episode, our guest Alain Cohn helps us to understand the complex relationship between wealth and perceptions of fairness in society. We explore his innovative research methodology, which move beyond traditional surveys to more accurately reflect the nuances of economic behaviors. The conversation also highlights the differences in attitudes towards inequality among the wealthy, particularly contrasting those with inherited wealth and the newly affluent. Through Alain’s studies, we gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics at play between wealth, fairness, and policy influence in today’s society.

Alain Cohn is Associate Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, focused on the social and psychological determinants of economic behaviors. His work has significantly contributed to our understanding of honesty, financial risk-taking, and the impact of wealth on fairness perceptions and redistribution policies.

In the episode, we also briefly mention the ultimatum game and the dictator’s game. If you want to find out more about these games, you can also check out our episode on first offers in bargaining with Lionel Page.

In this episode, our guest Marc Robinson, strategy and risk management expert, shares details on the recent UAW strikes and negotiations. With his rich background in the automotive industry and his experience as an economist at General Motors in the past, Marc observed the recent negotiations from a Game Theorist perspective. He shares the key success factors for the UAW to complete the union negotiations in their favor ranging from historical developments to changes in the UAW’s strategic moves compared to past union negotiations. We also discuss the broader implications of these negotiations for the automotive industry, its supply chain, and future union negotiations.

Marc Robinson works as an independent strategy and risk management consultant, following a career as an internal consultant and economist at General Motors. It was there that he first introduced game theoretic concepts and tools, applying them to a vast range of applications such as strategic product or investment decisions, or negotiations with partners, suppliers, and unions. He also taught at UCLA and Stanford and worked on the Council of Economic Advisers under President George H.W. Bush.

If you want to read more on the 2023 UAW strikes, you can check out Marc’s website https://www.csuitenewsletter.com/, where he covered the topic extensively in several blog posts.

In this episode we are talking to Frank Zagare about deterrence. The term gained popularity in particular during the cold war to describe the role of nuclear weapons in Soviet-American relations and, in light of recent events, has surfaced again. Together with Frank we look at the concept from a Game Theoretic perspective and discuss the shortcomings of the classical way of modeling deterrence. Frank then walks us through his alternative theory, perfect deterrence theory. He explains to us how it differs from classical way of modeling and which insights it offers on the war in Ukraine.

Frank Zagare is UB Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University at Buffalo and author of several books like ‘The Dynamics of Deterrence’ and ‘Game Theory, Diplomatic History and Security Studies’ among others.

In this episode we are talking to Michel Maréchal about honesty from an economist’s perspective. He shares with us two studies he has conducted on honesty: Firstly, we talk about a mega-study in which Michel and his colleagues have tested in more than 300 cities around the globe with more than 17000 wallets whether people would rather return lost wallets if there were a higher or lower amount of money in them. Secondly, he shares a lab experiment in which he studied whether humans are more honest when interacting with other humans versus interacting with machines. Both studies give an understanding on human’s behaviour when being incentivized to being dishonest.  

Michel Maréchal is a Visiting Professor of Economics at the Rady School of Management, UC San Diego and Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics from the University of Zürich. His research is interdisciplinary and lies at the intersections of economics, social psychology, criminology, political science and biology.

Here you can find Michel’s papers on civic honesty and honesty in the digital age. You can also check out his website for other research topics he is currently working on.

In this episode we are talking to Shengwu Li about simplicity in game theoretic concepts. He explains to us, what simple means in this context, how this notion facilitates application of game theory to the “real world” and what an obviously dominant strategy is. We discuss how this understanding of game theory can be particularly helpful when conducting auctions and what practitioners need to know beyond that to harness game theory’s predictive powers.

Shengwu Li is Associate Professor of Economics at Harvard University. His research is focused on Microeconomic Theory, Market Design and Behavioral Economics.

For many companies reaching their self-imposed CO2 targets has become quite a tall order. While procurement has tried to rise to the occasion progress is often slow. In this episode we are talking to Daniel Helmig who explains to us how companies can get unstuck and move forward in reaching their CO2 targets. We discuss what the past can teach us about possible solutions, which three important questions CEOs and other leaders should answer for an honest assessment of their situation and what gradual progress for companies could look like in the future.

Daniel Helmig is founder and Managing Director of the Helmig Advisory, which supports organizations in uncovering hidden potential in their supply chain, procurement, or operations area. Prior to this he held positions such as Corporate Transformation Leader, Group Head of Operations & Quality, Chief Procurement Officer, Senior Vice President, and Managing Director in five different industries.

In this episode, our guest Florian Englmaier explores the effectiveness of monetary incentives in driving team efficiency and innovation. He shares insights from an experimental study conducted in an escape room setting, uncovering surprising findings about the impact of incentives on non-routine tasks and the emergence of leadership dynamics within teams. 

Florian Englmaier is professor of organisational economics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany. His main research interests lie in the fields of the economics of organisations and human resources, where he focuses on agency problems in organisations.

You can find the papers on his studies conducted in the escape room setting here and here.

In this episode we are talking to Chris Voss. He is a former FBI hostage negotiator and has written a bestselling book “Never split the difference”. We discuss with him, what we can learn from hostage negotiations about negotiations in other settings, especially in the business context. Chris shares his approaches to negotiations and compares the importance of “tactical empathy” with Game Theoretic approaches. He also gives concrete and tangible proposals on how the listeners can improve their negotiation skills.

Chris Voss is a former FBI lead hostage negotiator, and founder and CEO of The Black Swan Group, a company focused on negotiation skills trainings. He is author of the bestselling book “Never Split the Difference“.

In today’s episode, we discuss Game Theory in movies. Santiago shares in which movies the prisoner’s dilemma, the chicken game and other concepts are portrayed. The discussion brings us to many known movies, amongst them ‘The dark knight’, ‘A Beautiful Mind’, and many others. Below we have listed a list of links of the movie clips we discuss in this episode. Santiago also shares in the discussion which of them were successful in portraying Game Theory and which ones could have done a better job.

Santiago Sanchez-Pages is a Reader in Economics in the Department of Political Economy. His background is in economic theory, including bargaining, game theory and political economy, but one of his main research fields is also experimental economics. He has written a book on Economics in movies titled “The Representation of Economics in Cinema. Scarcity, Greed and Utopia”.

• L.A. Confidential (Prisoner’s dilemma): L.A. Confidential (3/10) Movie CLIP – The Interrogation (1997) HD
• The Dark Knight (Prisoner’s dilemma): Social experiment || Dark knight
• Rebel without a cause (chicken run): The Chicken Run: Rebel Without A Cause (1955)
• Footloose (Chicken run): Holding Out for a Hero  Bonnie Tyler Footloose
• A Beautiful Mind (Nash equilibrium – or lack thereof): A Beautiful Mind – Bar Scene John Nash’s Equilibrium Game Theory [1080p english full scene]
• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Commitment): Doctor Strangelove – Doomsday Machine