EFTA00769559.pdf

From: John Brockman To: Jeffrey Epstein Subject: call 203-266-5930 Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:36:16 +0000 Eastover Farm • here. Kahneman is visiting as is Sendhil Mullaination. We're selling Sendhil's book (coauthored with Eldar Shafir) next week. See below (confidential please). JB 917-744-8920 mobile John Brockman Edge Foundation, Inc. 5 East 59th Street New York, NY 10022 tel: 212.935.8900 x110 Visit the EDGE Website: http://www.edge.org The Packing Problem: Time, Money, and the Science of Scarcity By Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir The economist Sendhil Mullainathan and the psychologist Eldar Shafir are stars in their respective disciplines, and the combination is greater than the sum of its parts. Their project has a unique feel to it: it is the finest combination of heart and head that I have seen in our field. Together they manage to merge scientific rigor and a wry view of the human predicament with a passionate commitment to deepen our understanding of the psychology and economics of poverty and to motivate us all to do better. —Daniel Kahneman, Professor of Psychology, Princeton University; Recipient, 2002 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir are a powerhouse duo. I consider Sendhil to be the most interesting young economist in the world. He can do anything, from abstract theory to field experiments in poor, rural India. Eldar Shafir is the most brilliant psychologist in the field of judgment and decision making to come along since Kahneman and Tversky. Both of them are amazingly personable and articulate. You can't ask for a better combination of authors to present their ideas to the public. —Richard Thaler, the father of Behavioral Economics; Director, Center for Decision Research, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business: Coauthor (with Cass Sunstein), Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Sendhil Mullainathan is a brilliant young economist who is tackling some of the most important questions in economics. Why do poor people often make choices that keep them poor? Why do some busy people make choices that keep them too busy? Both questions involve decision making under real or perceived scarcity. Classical economics assumes people are entirely rational actors, and thus has no answer to these puzzles. Sendhil is expanding the new field of behavior economics to analyze these questions, with profound impact on both our academic understanding of economics and public policy. —Nathan Myhrvold is CEO of Intellectual Ventures. Previously Dr. EFTA00769559 Myhrvold was Chief Technical Officer of Microsoft Corporation and founder of Microsoft Research where he worked directly for Bill Gates, with whom he coauthored The Road Ahead. EFTA00769560