Breakfast Meeting
August 28, 2008
7:30 am - 10:00 am
Sheraton Imperial

Why do your employees think they are under paid? How do you establish a value for a new product? Why did the Enron fraud occur? Why is CEO pay out of control? Why is your competitor’s product selling better than yours is?

Dan’s research might change the way we price products, the way we market ourselves and our products and services, how we compensate our employees, and how we buy for our businesses and personally. It shows how we can influence people, the impact of expectations on the honesty and integrity of our employees and customers, and the “cost of free”. Learn how we make decisions on the choices we are confronted with on the corporate and social level.

In February, HarperCollins published Ariely's provocatively (and counterintuitively) titled book, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. As an engaging account of economics applied to everyday life, it has drawn comparisons, inevitably, to Freakonomics, Stephen Levitt's 2005 publishing sensation. After just a few weeks, it ranked fifth on The New York Times best-seller list.

The starting point for understanding Ariely Ph.D. '98 is to know something about the field called behavioral economics-the field in which, at age forty-one, he's already an established star. Ariely returned to Duke last fall from MIT, where he had joint appointments in the program in Media Arts and Sciences, the Sloan School of Management, and the Media Lab (for which he was principal investigator for the "eRationality" group). Beginning this fall, he gives up his "visiting" professorship and becomes James B. Duke Professor of business administration, along with a secondary appointment in economics and an affiliation with the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. Ariely defines behavioral economics as driven by "looking at the same questions that standard economics is looking at, but without assuming people are rational."

For questions, call Debra Michie, Executive Director, 919.453.2997 or email acgrtp@nc.rr.com