Human Systems and Behavior

William Mulholland and the catastrophic failure of the St. Francis Dam

George Harrison's constrained response to the 1929 stock market crash

Friedrich Paulus and the doomed defense of Stalingrad

Exploring the perils of leadership when expertise meets unprecedented challenges through historical case studies

The story of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's critical decision at the Battle of Midway and the perils of mismatched leadership.

We analyze the Wealthy-Harming Preference (WHP), quantifying how spiteful envy drives support for economically inefficient tax policies.

We analyze the historical proscription of envy and quantify its modern role as a hidden, punitive driver of demand for wealth redistribution.

Successful brands must proactively manage malicious envy, especially in high-inequality markets, or face boycotts and negative word-of-mouth.

Veblen's concepts explain why competitive status seeking traps individuals in a costly, self-defeating cycle of spending, creating large societal welfare losses.

Relative standing concerns translate directly into measurable inefficiency, undermining output and challenging competitive labor market theory.