This is an excellent starter on incentives and behavioural economics.

An incentive "is a tool used to motivate people to do something they would not do otherwise." This definition deserves an update in light of the spread of dark patterns and deceptive design strategies across digital media the world over, but it'll do as a valence-free operationalization. On that note, a new term I found compelling was "information asymmetry," where consumers "have limited knowledge and often rely on experts' advice and recommendations to make decision. These recommendations, however, aren't always the best for us. (...) trust is an important component of such relationships. [between consumer and provider]."

I was also drawn to the ideas around making use of cognitive biases like loss aversion to motivate in a positive direction. Loss aversion is the phenomenon where people don't like to lose things, even if they don't mind not getting equal things. Yup, we do that. This is a kind of framing effect: how we present the information determines how we react to it. Glass half full, half empty, perhaps.

I'm looking forward to the results on the female genital mutilation project, which aims to change the value system in certain African cultures. Families who allow their daughters to finish their education and not subject her to FGM receive a high dowry plus the high status of an educated daughter who will likely get a good job. This is a long game, a child's lifetime. I hope incentives are the answer to this hellish problem.

Well laid out book, which was really easy to understand and a great read.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

This was a really interesting read.
The book looks at incentives and how they are perceived.

Whilst the author backs up claims with research, the book is a good read.

Full of diagrams and photos to really make things easier to understand. As well as real life examples that we can relate to.

Highly recommend for those running a business

It’s obvious to anyone who picks up this book that Gneezy knows his stuff. Examples on examples backed by one scientific study after another are the building blocks of this great introduction to incentives. I say introduction even though this book presents varied and complex situations in which incentives are implemented because Gneezy’s clear comfort with the material suggests that he is just presenting the tip of the iceberg for the general reader. Even considering all the nuances Gneezy may have left out makes me look forward to whatever he writes next! While I would have preferred more contextual narrative to support some of the longer stage setting, this is a fascinating book for anyone who is impacted by incentives (psst, that’s you).

Thank you to NetGalley, Uri Gneezy, and Yale University Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

An informative and enjoyable book that shows how we respond to signals in our everyday lives. Well-written with relatable examples showing how incentives work. Provides useful information for policymakers, organizations, and individuals looking to make behavioral changes. Highly recommend for a general audience.

This is an interesting read on the messages we give and receive through action. It includes helpful advice, cartoons and charts as well as photographs. It explores the potential consequences of different options. I enjoyed it. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance reading copy.

Mixed Signals is an accessible and informative exploration of incentives and the messages they end up sending. The book is full of illustrations and anecdotes that illuminate the points made throughout and almost every chapter ends with a handy takeaway point. The lessons are applicable to both personal and professional situations. I recommend it to anyone leading teams and wondering how to motivate them, or anyone curious to learning more about behavior change and how to design incentives that promote positive/desired changes.

Thank you to Yale University Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

I came into this book truly not knowing what to expect. I felt like I already had, at the minimum, a decent understanding of incentives and the way they work. Combined with the premise of mixed signals some incentives provide, it was interesting enough for me to pick this up.

You can truly tell that Uri Gneezy has put sincere thought into his work. Countless examples from subjects everyone is familiar with - TV shows like Seinfeld, well-known CEOs, vehicle advertising, tattooing, business folks, and more provide ample evidence and examples within his work. Not only does he provide everyday examples, he further presents them in a way that's easy to understand, and is backed up with explanations from students, researchers, and his own studies from behavioral economics.

I can confidently say that while I came in expecting this book to be a drag - it was actually a pleasant read. It wasn't like reading a scholarly article, with complicated psychological explanations. It had charts, graphs, and more to aid the reader further in understanding the topic as a whole. It was relatively easy to digest but definitely took me a few sittings to read through.

My only criticism of this book overall would be that some of the explanations were long-winded, and took me a while to get through. They weren't hard to understand but rather felt redundant to read. While it didn't necessarily subtract from the overall premise of the book, it knocked a star off for me because of some of the redundancies.

Moreso, the confidence in my own knowledge that I had prior to this dropped significantly after reading this. It's not a bad thing - rather, it was my own personal example of the Dunning-Kreuger effect. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to read this, and would recommend this to those not only interested in learning the ins and outs of incentives and mixed signals, but learning how it impacts everyday life. Whether that be through economics, marketing, the grocery store, television shows, choices about tattoos, and future outcomes, this book has a little bit of knowledge in multiple aspects for anyone who gives a moment to read it.

A solid 4/5 for an engaging, and good explanation of the topic and its concepts and applications.

*I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair, unbiased review*