The Debt to Pleasure

A Nobel prizewinner argues for an overhaul of the theory of consumer choice.

A Costly Lesson

If “executive” MBA programmes are not much different from their full-time counterparts, how do business schools justify charging twice the price?

Which MBA?: Distance-learning special

Distance-learning MBA programs are resoundingly successful. The Economist takes an in-depth look at the sector.
* Should an MBA be open to anyone?
* How a distance-learning MBA works
* Distance-learning diary
* Reader debate: Should distance-learning MBAs be considered inferior?
* Download the full report, including a rating of selected programmes

Greg Davies on Behavioural Finance

The head of Behavioural Finance at Barclays Wealth says hot-brained humans often buy and sell right when they shouldn’t.

Niall FitzGerald

A brand is a storehouse of trust. That matters more and more as choices multiply. People want to simplify their lives.

The Economist

As they move from merely validating products to encapsulating whole lifestyles, brands are evolving a growing social dimension. In the developed world, they are seen by some to have expanded into the vacuum left by the decline of organized religion. But this has made brands—and the multinationals that are increasingly identified with them—not more powerful, but more vulnerable. Consumers will tolerate a lousy product for … [ Read more ]

Jonathan Bond and Richard Kirshenbaum

Consumers are like roaches. We spray them with marketing, and for a time it works. Then, inevitably, they develop an immunity, a resistance.