How businesses bamboozle you into paying more

Editor's note

Ever wondered why many companies offer bewilderingly complex and varied pricing plans? In Sydney, for instance, electricity customers can choose between 350 different retail plans. This complexity is a deliberate strategy based on knowledge that too much choice bamboozles customers into making poor choices. Robert Slonim explains how it works: more choices reduce the likelihood of making the best choice, or indeed any choice at all.

You might think smart people can weigh up mathematical evidence pretty easily. But new research from Will Grant and Matt Nurse shows your assessment of data depends on the context – and your political views. They asked Greens and One Nation supporters to do some simple maths, and found their answers changed when they were told the data was about climate change.

Teething can be a testing time for kids and their parents. But many teething products, including gels, can be dangerous or don’t help. So what’s a parent to do? Mihiri Silva explains.

Also, just a reminder we still need readers, like you, to give to our 2019 donations campaign. If you’ve already donated, thank you! If you haven’t, please give today.

Tim Wallace

Deputy Editor: Business + Economy

Top story

Three decades of behavioural experiments show consumers given too many choices are more likely to make a bad or no choice. www.shutterstock.com

Inducing consumer paralysis: how retailers bury customers in an avalanche of choice

Robert Slonim, University of Sydney

Energy companies and other retailers bamboozle us with options to increase their profits. Here's how the behavioural phenomenon of choice overload works.

It seems safe to assume One Nation and Greens voters might have differing views on climate change. But can they change their minds in the face of new evidence? Mick Tsikas / AAP

We asked people to do climate change maths. Their answers depended on their politics

Will J Grant, Australian National University

We asked 252 Australian Greens party supporters and 252 One Nation party supporters to do some simple maths. Their answers changed when we told them it was climate change data.

The symptoms we put down to teething might be caused by something else. And many teething products, like gels and necklaces, might actually harm. from www.shutterstock.com

Beware the teething trap. Many products don’t work, and can even be dangerous

Mihiri Silva, Murdoch Children's Research Institute

Many of the gels, toys or therapies recommended to help kids through teething may be dangerous. So, what's a parent to do?

Education

What’s the point of education? It’s no longer just about getting a job

Luke Zaphir, The University of Queensland

The Ancient Greeks modelled a form of education that, in variants, has endured for centuries. But with climate change and globalisation, the world has changed, and the role of education with it.
More students are going to university than before, but those at risk of dropping out need more help

Andrew Norton, Grattan Institute

University enrolments surged from 2012-2017 due to demand driven funding. But they were would have risen anyway, perhaps just not as quickly.

Cities

Caring for Country: how remote communities are building on payment for ecosystem services

Hannah Robertson, Monash University

We now have a proven model for supporting self-determined building on Aboriginal homelands. The next question is how can its reach be extended?
‘People felt totally trapped’: what it’s like to be a pensioner renting privately as Australia’s housing costs soar

Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation

On today's episode, Alan Morris shares some of the deeply moving stories he heard when he set out to interview older Australians in private rental accommodation and social housing about loneliness.

Arts + Culture

The New York Times ends daily political cartoons, but it’s not the death of the art form

Richard Scully, University of New England

A New York Times decision has lead to predictions of the death of cartooning. But rather than perishing, is the global art form just feeling the full force of technological and workplace change?
Inside the story: the all-knowing narrator in Kim Scott’s Taboo

Julienne van Loon, RMIT University

The omniscient narrator is alive and well in fiction. Kim Scott's most recent novel uses a collective narrative voice that encompasses the landscape as well as the human.

Environment + Energy

Australia’s pristine beaches have a poo problem

Ian Wright, Western Sydney University; Andrew Fischer, University of Tasmania; Boyd Dirk Blackwell, University of Tasmania; Qurratu A'yunin Rohmana, University of Tasmania; Simon Toze, CSIRO

Sydney's affluent eastern suburbs have raw and untreated sewage from 3,500 people discharged directly into the Tasman Sea.
Built like buildings, boab trees are life-savers with a chequered past

Gregory Moore, University of Melbourne

The leaves, when boiled, can be eaten like spinach. The seeds can be roasted for a coffee substitute, and the pulp can be fermented to make beer.

Politics + Society

Young Australians champion ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ in designing constitutional change

Benjamin T. Jones, CQUniversity Australia; John Warhurst, Australian National University

At a recent constitutional convention, high school students from across the country designed a new preamble to the Constitution to bring it into line with their idea of how Australia should be.
Lambie’s vote key if government wants to have medevac repealed

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

Dutton continues to insist the government could be compelled under the medevac legislation to transfer criminals, although the legislation gives the minister power to veto people on security grounds.
Setka furore opens division within the labour movement – and there is no easy solution

Ray Markey, Macquarie University

The latest scandal involving the CFMMEU leader has the potential to cause serious damage to the Labor Party and the union movement.
VIDEO: Michelle Grattan on John Setka, press freedom, Adani approval and tax

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

Another hectic week in federal politics has seen Labor dealing with a controversy involving union leader John Setka, and the Queensland government giving final approval for the Adani mine.

Business + Economy
The real story of the Barbie doll: strong female leadership behind the scenes Bertrand Venard, Audencia 2019 marks the 60th anniversary of the world's most famous doll, Barbie. It's an opportunity to look back at the journey of its creator, Ruth Handler, a visionary leader and model for women.

Science + Technology

Quantum physics experiment shows Heisenberg was right about uncertainty, in a certain sense

Howard Wiseman, Griffith University

Heisenberg's famous Uncertainty Principle is put to the test to see if things really are uncertain in the quantum world.
Proposal to mine fossil-rich site in New Zealand sparks campaign to protect it

Nic Rawlence, University of Otago

An Australian company's plan to mine a fossil-rich site in New Zealand to produce pig food has been described as unjustifiable vandalism. A campaign is under way to protect the site in perpetuity.
How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters

Stanley Shanapinda, La Trobe University

Telegram enabled protesters in Hong Kong to evade surveillance, but a DDoS attack and the arrest of a group administrator undermined the ability of protesters to organise and communicate.

Health + Medicine
Research Check: is white meat as bad for your cholesterol levels as red meat? Clare Collins, University of Newcastle Researchers looked at whether it's better to eat red meat, poultry or plant protein sources for heart health. While a plant-based diet was the clear winner, red meat and white meat scored the same.