When will behavioral economists stop ferreting out our ugly little irrationalities? It turns out, according to a MIT study, that people want to keep all their options open even if it is obvious that the option involved is a dumb one, one that you should not take. I'm going through one of those episodes of irrationality right now. There's a faculty position open; I was invited to apply and after hemming and hawing for over a month, I finally did. "Why not keep the option open?," I justified to myself, "I can make the decision if I do get the job." In the end of course, I'll decide to stay at NSSL. I always have. But who knows how many productive hours (mine and that of others) I'll have wasted on trying to keep the option open?
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