Stock markets tend to rise in the week after a blockbuster movie opens
Blockbuster movie releases were followed by significantly higher US stock market returns the next week, along with lower expected volatility and risk aversion, and the pattern also appeared in international markets.
Americans who feel like political outsiders where they live give blood less often
In data on 275,000 Americans and a survey of 3,505 more, people whose politics differ from their area’s average were less likely to donate blood, a drop of about 20% from the baseline odds. Racial diversity showed no such effect.
“Five people in a row have donated” beats “most people donate” in 11 experiments
Across 11 experiments with 12,688 participants, telling people they could join a short streak of donors raised giving more than telling them a high percentage of others had donated, because streaks made people feel their gift would influence the next person.
When Uber arrives in a US city, unemployment falls by up to half a percentage point
Tracking Uber’s rollout across 323 US metro areas from 2013 to 2018, an economist found its arrival cut local unemployment by between a fifth and a half of a percentage point, about a 3.2% drop, with a small lift for low-end wages.
Women on Jeopardy! bet just as boldly as men in Final Jeopardy
An analysis of Final Jeopardy wagers from 1,669 recent episodes and 492 episodes from the 1980s found no sign that female contestants are more risk averse than male ones, in either era.
Job ads asking for “outside the box” thinkers draw in more narcissists
In four experiments, narcissistic job seekers rated postings full of “Rule-Bender” phrases such as “thinks outside the box” and “results-oriented” as a better fit, and professional recruiters reached for that language more for high-growth firms and when aggressive financial reporting would pay off.
Gilded Age fortunes rarely lasted: 93% of rich men’s grandchildren missed the top 1%
Tracking tens of millions of Americans in census records from 1850 to 1940, economists found that 72% of the top 1% fell out of it within ten years, and 93% of grandchildren of top 1% grandfathers never reached it themselves.
Vacations lift well-being more and for longer than once believed, meta-analysis shows
Pooling 32 studies with 256 effect sizes, a meta-analysis found vacations have a large effect on employee well-being that fades more slowly than earlier work suggested; switching off from work and staying physically active helped most.
Oldest boys in class make 11% more friends and are 42% likelier to be class president
Using Facebook data, researchers found that boys who are relatively old for their school cohort make 11% more friends in high school, are 42% more likely to become class president, and as men have bigger networks and more often go into management and entrepreneurship.
