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Behavioural Economics : A Challenge To Mainstream Economic Models

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Introduction : Behavioural economics is a relatively new field that combines insights from psychology, judgement, decision making and economics to generate a more accurate understanding of human behaviour. Economics has long differed from other disciplines in its belief that most if not all human behaviour can be easily explained by relying on the assumption that our preferences are well-defined and stable across time and are rational. Behavioural economics emerged against the backdrop of the traditional economic approach known as rational choice model. The basic message of behavioral economic is that humans are hard wired to make judgement errors and they need a nudge to make decisions that are in their own best interest. This approach complements and enhances the rational choice model. The Rational Consumer : Economists try to build efficient models by making simplified assumptions about consumer behaviour. One of the most common assumptions being that the consumer is rationa

Education system: Has learning faded from our education?

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knowledge from experience, something books cannot provide. Education É›djʊˈkeɪʃ(É™)n noun 1.    the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university. 2.    an enlightening experience. What is education for you? Typically, for a regular student, when we hear the word ‘education’ we tend to directly associate it with a picture of our classroom which leads to tests, assignments, grades, and marks. It is more of a tense competition where everyone is trying to be better than the other, beat the best, get the most prestigious college or job rather than actually being exposed to new things and learn it for their own selves. An experiment was done on 60 students in a class where they were asked a simple question on a regular basis - “how many of you actually woke up today to learn something new?” the maximum number of hands that were raised were 5. It might seem like that children don’t like school because they’re not focused and

Vikings, Barbarians? : Facts and Misconceptions

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Peter Dennis - Box art Perry Miniatures Vikings were raiders and seafarers who mainly spoke the Old Norse Language and followed Norse Mythology. They traded and raided their way to prosperity from their own Norther European homelands and Central, Eastern and Western European areas during the late 8th-11th centuries. The Vikings had interesting ways to do things and their traditions and customs were brutish but also interesting. The so called 'Vikings Age' was the period of military, trading and demographic expansion that forms an important element in the history of Scandinavia, the British Isles, Estonia, France and many more. Not barbaric? Vikings as traders https://www.historyonthenet.com/vikings-as-traders/ The Vikings are portrayed as ruthless and barbaric folks who wore huge horn helmets and killed for the sake of it. In reality their way of doing things and their culture goes far beyond. The term 'viking', means 'pirate raid' in the Old Norse

Koh-i-Noor : Tracing the bloody diamond & why the British won't return it back

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The queen mothers crown with the Koh-hi-Noor diamond at the center. (Wikimedia Commons) The Koh-i-Noor  is said to be one of the oldest diamond and certainly one of the most famous diamonds in the world. The history of the diamond can be traced more 5000 years ago. "Koh-i-Noor" is a Persian term which translates to "Mountain of Light". Legend follows that the gem must only be worn by a god or a woman, a man who wears it shall only face misery and bad luck. Those who possess the gem shall own the world. In the past, battles have been fought over the diamond and for about 4 countries have argued about who shall keep it now. The bloodiest diamond has travelled its fair share of locations and it is worth tracing how the gem has travelled. Sayamantaka To 1500 : The diamond finds its first mention in a Sanskrit script, where it was termed the 'Syamataka'. There is speculation that the Koh-hi-Noor and the Syamataka are one and the same. The diamond f

"The Red Pill" Film Review : An eye opener for Modern Western Feminism

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Image from kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cassiejaye/the-red-pill-a-documentary-film The Red Pill is a documentary film directed by Cassie Jaye. The documentary delves deep into the Men's Right Movements and includes interviews from Men's Rights Activists (MRA), feminists and Cassie Jaye's own Video log. The documentary has gained much acclaim but at the same time it has been seen as controversial and has been shunned upon by several feminist groups. If anything, the documentary serves as an eye opener to men's issues and how the MRA's are wrongly judged as been a hate group. Twitter :  @Cassie_Jaye The documentary starts with Cassie Jaye, a lifelong long feminist telling us about her miserable stint at Hollywood playing the 'blonde who always dies'. She narrates her contributions and participation in the feminist movement and her passion for film making. The Red Pill is a well constructed and well structured narrative which

Net Neutrality : What it means and why you should be concerned

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When we go online to surf the web, we expect to have access to any website we want without any limitations. We know that the cable company or our ISP (Internet Service Provider ) wont mess with the content we choose to surf and allow us to freely connect to websites and any sort of content we wish to explore. We expect to be in control of our internet experience without any sort of shackles on our surfing capacity. We expect Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality is the basic principle that the internet should be free from any sort of tampering by our ISP's from blocking content, slowing or speeding up websites and content we wish to access. All ISP's must treat its users by not discriminating and charging differently according to different users, websites, platform, application , specific content etc. Due to certain opinions against Net Neutrality, some governments across the world have or had started to treat the internet as a public utility service, like water, electricity ,

Being a 'man' : Privilege or a struggle?

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Life is a constant struggle. At first, you struggle to walk, to talk, to get the picture of what’s real and what’s not. In the course you absorb the mechanisms of the world and its beings. You get the hang of how the society functions and shape yourself accordingly to fit in. And if you don’t fit in?? Well.. It’s a constant tussle but in different aspects of your life; such as the pressure of being the perfect child, the ideal student, the ‘best’ friend, a charismatic leader, a devoted wife and a hard- working father for his family. Or to confine it a little- as a man and a woman. Let’s take a situation for example. There’s a girl on the bus and behind the girl is a guy. The driver pulled the break and the guy happened to accidently touch the girl. In reflex, the girl simply presumed that the guy had wrong intentions, turned back in anger and slapped the guy. Now before you think I’m gonna tell you about how women are ill- treated and there needs to be a call for ch