A Mathematical Foundation

Sophie Dundovic

Part IBehavioural Economics

Economics + Psychology “Irrational” Behaviour

Quick ExperimentWould you rather have £100 now or £105

tomorrow?

Would you rather have £100 in one year or £105 in one year and one day?

Same question, waiting one day = £5

Many people have inconsistent answers

Discounting

Risk Preferences affect Behaviour

Novelty seekers are more likely to exercise an anti – endowment effect than their risk averse counterparts

Impact in career choices, relationships and addictive/ impulsive behaviours.

Novelty Seeking Behaviour

Risk Averse

Novelty

Seeking

Status Quo, security

Newness, uncertainty, risk

Endowment EffectWillingness to pay is not equal to willingness to

acceptThis is ‘irrational’

WHY? Loss aversionStatus Quo bias

Investigating the linkMeasuring personality spectrum

Repeating and adapting classic endowment effect experiments

Newness and Uncertainty

Treatment GroupsNewness

Uncertainty

Results and limitationsPeople scoring higher on the novelty seeking

scale were more likely to ‘switch’Most people will stay put

Experimental setting in the labNeed to test with greater sample size

Part II Technology Start - Ups

New sectorMany problems that are solved through

computer scienceRanges from consumer facing (eg snapchat) to

making business processes more efficient (eg automating tasks/ getting more accurate measurements using computers)

Mental Health TechPlatform connecting Psychologists and Patients

outside of treatment sessions

ProblemMental health a 24/7 problemTreatment is hard to come by/ expensiveOnce a weekPaper based tasks

SolutionPsychologists can set ready tailor made

treatment program with a few clicks

Patients get messages to their phone at appropriate times

Both can track progress

SummaryMany exciting options with a mathematical

foundationQuantitative skills and problem solving are

important

www.mathigon.org