Social Science

74 papers

That 'scientific certainty' in big medical studies? Sometimes it’s just because the researchers are buddies, not because the data is actually solid.

Paradigm Challenge socarxiv | Mar 16

Generative AI is making big banks so much faster that small-town banks are falling twice as far behind as they were two years ago.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 16

Knowing when to shut up at work can actually make your team get along better and handle drama way more effectively.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 16

Eco-friendly self-driving cars might actually make pollution worse because human drivers start driving like jerks to exploit the AI's safety gaps.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 16

The way central banks define a 'housing boom' is basically a coin flip for whether they can actually see a financial crisis coming.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 16

The idea that looking at too many outside ideas kills innovation is actually a brand new problem—it didn't even exist ten years ago.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 16

If you hate your commute, it's probably because of the neighborhood where your office is, not the one where you actually live.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 16

Getting rid of haggling can actually scare off customers, even if the new "fixed" price is cheaper than what they were paying before.

Paradigm Challenge socarxiv | Mar 13

Planting native flowers might actually be worse for city birds and bees than those "exotic" gardens people love to hate.

Practical Magic socarxiv | Mar 13

The wealth gap between rich and poor countries is actually 74% bigger than what the official income numbers tell you.

Cosmic Scale ssrn | Mar 13

Making teacher licensing tests harder doesn't actually get you better teachers—it just leaves you with way fewer of them.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Trade wars aren't actually stopping global trade because individual companies are just ignoring the politics and doing their own thing.

Practical Magic socarxiv | Mar 13

For the government to keep executing people, the legal system basically has to allow for a certain amount of racism and "oops" moments.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

You can predict what the Fed is going to do weeks early just by watching "secret" emergency cash requests from foreign banks.

Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 13

Zimbabwe tried backing its money with actual gold, and it still lost half its value in six months because nobody trusts the government.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

You don't need a bulldozer to fix rock-hard volcanic soil—you just need a bunch of earthworms to stop the "biological starvation."

Nature Is Weird ssrn | Mar 13

Poor countries are often broke on purpose because the people in charge realized that blocking growth is the easiest way to stay in power.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

You can lose a letter grade just because your exam was in the morning or because of Daylight Saving Time, even if you know the material.

Nature Is Weird ssrn | Mar 13

The only thing keeping the big AI labs from going broke right now is basically "faith" that they’ll eventually build a super-intelligence.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Blocking new roads in National Forests sounds green, but it actually does absolutely nothing to stop wildfires.

Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 13

During the pandemic, having customers in other countries actually made it harder for small businesses to get a bank loan.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

The legal difference between a campaign donation and a straight-up bribe is basically a fairy tale.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Giving executives massive raises for getting promoted actually backfires because it just encourages them to cheat with insider trading.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Apple doesn't actually decide when the next iPhone comes out—they’re basically waiting on the speed of the tiny parts inside to catch up.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Good news: your personal carbon footprint is probably way smaller than those online calculators want you to believe.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

You’d actually make more money if you ignored the experts and messed with your investment portfolio 94% less often.

Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 13

When stores raise their free shipping limit from $80 to $100, they often see their total sales absolutely tank.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Australia somehow figured out how to consistently beat the stock market, which basically goes against everything we know about finance.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Central banks might want to start setting interest rates based on how much regular people are freaking out about the price of groceries.

Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 13

Even though it’s illegal to discriminate, algorithms are just using your ZIP code to "guess" your race and income anyway.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

If you don't have a college degree, your best shot at a big promotion is actually when your company is in total chaos.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

A single typo in a bank transfer was the "proof" that convinced millions of people that a global elite was involved in a dark conspiracy.

Nature Is Weird ssrn | Mar 13

Credit rating agencies are so slow that by the time they warn you a country is going broke, the disaster is already ancient history.

Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 13

A government-run AI wouldn't just be competition—it would act as a "reality check" to stop private AI companies from overcharging you.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

In developing countries, not having job websites actually makes it faster for companies to hire people.

Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 13

Companies are basically "snitching" on their competitors to the EPA just to get them hit with massive fines.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Stock analysts who actually sign up as official "advisers" give way better tips because they’re legally forced to be honest with you.

Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 13

The Supreme Court isn't actually getting rid of that controversial "due process" rule; they’re just using it to rewrite how the government works.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

If you use AI to help write your performance review, you’ll actually end up giving yourself a lower score.

Nature Is Weird ssrn | Mar 13

You only need to put rat traps on 4% of a farm to protect the entire field from getting trashed.

Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 13

Weirdly, the more rules we make for AI safety, the more "incidents" and glitches we actually see.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Bitcoin and the stock market are moving in lockstep now, but only because the same group of gamblers is betting on both.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Teaching healthcare workers how to manage their supplies actually saves more lives than giving them extra medical training.

Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 13

A government subsidy to help people pay for electricity actually backfired and made them use way less power.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

You can actually predict if an industry is going to tank just by counting how many times the word "shall" appears in its regulations.

Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 13

The value of your house is actually tied to how strong the U.S. dollar is, even if you’re living on the other side of the world.

Cosmic Scale ssrn | Mar 13

All that high-tech blockchain tracking isn't actually stopping crime—illegal crypto deals are hitting record highs anyway.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Investors are so traumatized by getting scammed that they won't touch the stock market unless they expect a 15% higher return than normal.

Nature Is Weird ssrn | Mar 13

If a company is named after the person who started it, they’re actually way more likely to be honest about their impact on the planet.

Nature Is Weird ssrn | Mar 13

The more "official" and rule-heavy a technical standards group is, the less power it actually has in the real world.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

It sounds crazy, but giving your professional rival control over your licensing board can actually end up getting you a raise.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Corporate "innovation labs" are basically $100 billion money pits that make projects four times more expensive and a year late.

Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 13

Making teacher tests harder doesn't give us better teachers—it just leaves us with empty classrooms.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Putting high-speed AI in charge of the military is a recipe for disaster because it moves way faster than human logic can keep up with.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Those government checks for "carbon capture" are actually encouraging power plants to burn more fuel and stay open longer.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

You’re actually more likely to get life-saving preventative surgery at a "poor" local hospital than at a fancy university medical center.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

The idea that military AI is "precise" is basically a legal lie used to bypass international laws.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

New "green" banking rules actually end up making the rich richer and the poor poorer way more than a simple carbon tax would.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Google’s search engine has turned into a giant popularity contest where big websites can push whatever they want, even if it's trash.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

A simple software update at the Patent Office accidentally broke the main way scientists study whether patents are actually worth anything.

Practical Magic ssrn | Mar 13

When a big institution starts talking about "reform," it’s usually not a sign of improvement—it’s a sign that the whole thing is about to collapse.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

The more a pension fund brags about being "sustainable," the more money it actually seems to lose.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

In dictatorships, colleges aren't where the rebels hang out—they're actually the main headquarters for pro-government rallies.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

It turns out big corporate landowners and trusts are actually way better at protecting farmland than traditional "family" owners.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Getting rid of price haggling can actually tank your sales, even if your new "fixed" price is cheaper than what people were paying before.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Charging fees for government-backed loans actually makes the whole economy riskier because it scares off the stable borrowers.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

In Texas, the person in charge of your estate can sell the family farm to a total stranger even if your will explicitly says not to do it.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

International trade deals meant to help poor countries often backfire and cause their local businesses to lose everything to big foreign companies.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Kids who beat leukemia grow up to be just as smart as everyone else, but for some reason, they have a way harder time finding a job.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Trying too hard to "innovate" can actually backfire and make a country’s economy grow slower in the long run.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Electing "tough on crime" prosecutors actually leads to a 6.6% drop in deaths among young men.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Believe it or not, global warming has actually lowered total energy bills in the U.S. because we’re spending way less on heating.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

Interest rates aren't falling just because people are older—it’s actually because big companies are jacking up their prices.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13

That massive 500% jump in stock market trading since the 80s? It’s basically a mirage that doesn't actually help long-term investors.

Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Mar 13