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Who is Dan Ariely?
Dan Ariely is a psychologist and behavioral economist, and one of the most influential academics currently working in his field. With three New York Times best-selling books and several highly-viewed TED talks to his name, he is known not only for his wide-ranging and incisive research but also for his accessible communication style and his sense of humor.
What is Ariely's column?
Ariely writes a weekly column for the Wall Street Journal, where readers write in with all manner of questions and Ariely responds with tips from behavioral science. The queries span from requests for advice on how to manage a business, to frustrated questions about why people don’t follow social distancing rules a global pandemic.
Big bonuses don't work in banking. And why trying harder leads to a big illusion
In February, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reported that Wall Street bonuses paid to New York City securities industry employees rose an estimated 17% to $20.3 billion in 2009. And bonus pools at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) increased by 31% in 2009.
NYSE: JPM
The problem with bonuses Dan Ariely: The results that we have show that when you have very, very high bonuses, people actually try to perform well but they get overstressed and therefore perform quite mediocrely … Imagine you were going into a brain surgery and you wanted to really motivate your surgeon.
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