Louis Putterman Ph.D.

About

Louis Putterman, Ph.D., is a behavioral economist and professor at Brown University. He researches why we've been unable to build a more equitable society conducive to human flourishing. In 2020, Putterman launched the website https://www.louisputterman.com/ to discuss issues of social justice and current affairs. He tweets at https://twitter.com/LPBetterWorld.

Books by Louis Putterman Ph.D.

Recent Posts

Leviathan, Redux: Government Is Frightful Unless Shackled

The work of this year's Nobel prize winners in economics has much to say about the big choice facing Americans on November 5.

Ends vs. Means: Why Does It Matter?

Do we care only about outcomes, or also about ways to get there? In the terms of philosophy, are we consequentialists, or deontologists? Behavioral economists find some of each.

Who Really Cares About Democracy?

How can one gauge sentiment for democracy in places where free speech is tightly suppressed? A new technique appears to pick up underlying valence without attracting censorship.

Identity and Violence

A Personal Perspective: A Canadian-Israeli peace activist's funeral on October 7 evokes a meditation on the uncommonness of transcendent humanity.

Big Tech and Its Discontents

Economists Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson explain why technological progress is doing more for corporate bottom lines than for most people's quality of life lately.

What Happens When AI Attains Self-Interest?

The biggest danger of AI may be the possibility of its evolving a "self." Kept free of self and self-interest, however, AI could empower and serve us.

What the DART Mission Says About Human Nature and the Economy

Worrying that an asteroid like the one that did in the last dinosaurs might be headed our way? Fear less.

The Psychological Silver Lining of Faceless Bureaucracy

Why do we let impersonal authority figures enforce rules? Doing so may be psychologically easier when even a small amount of doubt is present, research finds.

Universal Versus Tribal Psychology

Why is the West psychologically peculiar and how did it become relatively rich? Explaining the past is one thing. Preparing for the future is a bigger challenge.

Getting Others to Do Their Fair Share, Fairly

More evidence that humans are a cooperative species: cooperators pay to monitor, not punish blindly.