ECON 142 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Omission Bias
21 Jun 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Imagine there have been several epidemics of a certain kind of flu that everyone contracts and can be fatal to children under 3. About 10 of every 10,000 children get this flu will die. A vaccine is developed which eliminates the chance of getting the flu. The vaccine caused death in 5 out of every 10,000 children who are vaccinated. Psychologists have found that people view inaction as less casual, less blameworthy, and less harmful than action even when the outcomes are the same or worse. In business, there is evidence that managers more worried about making mistakes than missing opportunities. People are rarely held accountable for failing to act, even though it can be as costly. Refs generally do not want to be the ones who determine the outcome. Nba"s (unwritten) directive to refs: when the game steps up, you step down . Evaluation of loose-ball situations involving a star and non-star.
