Every day we make countless decisions, from the small, mundane things to tackling life's big questions, but we don't always make the right choices. Behavioural scientist Dr David Halpern heads up Number 10's 'Nudge Unit', the world's first government institution that uses behavioural economics to examine and influence human behaviour, to 'nudge' us into making better decisions. Seemingly small and subtle solutions have led to huge improvements across tax, healthcare, pensions, employment, crime reduction, energy conservation and economic growth. Adding a crucial line to a tax reminder brought forward millions in extra revenue; refocusing the questions asked at the job centre helped an extra 10 per cent of people come off their benefits and back into work; prompting people to become organ donors while paying for their car tax added an extra 100,000 donors to the register in a single year. After two years and dozens of experiments in behavioural science, the results are undeniable. And now David Halpern and the Nudge Unit will help you to make better choices and improve your life.

Product Description: Options for Britain II: Cross Cutting Policy Issues - Changes and Challenges offers an assessment of the last decade of British public policy that cuts across policy areas, such as measuring public sector performance, the role of the state, regulation, and Britain’s relationship with the EU...read more

Product Description: Richer nations are happier, yet economic growth doesn't increase happiness. This paradox is explained by the Hidden Wealth of Nations - the extent to which citizens get along with other independently drives both economic growth and well-being...read more

Product Description: “The explorer travels to discover and investigate; the pilgrim travels and investigates to discover the sacred.”David Halpern’s life and career span remarkable developments in the history of modern photography, from the introduction of Kodachrome film in 1936 to the current digital era...read more

The concept of 'social capital' is currently the focus of an explosion of interest in the research and policy community. It refers to the social networks, informal structures and norms that facilitate individual and collective action. This explosion of interest is driven by a growing body of evidence that social capital has enormous effects on economic growth, health, crime and even the effectiveness and functioning of governments. David Halpern provides a guide through the many and sometimes confusing definitions of social capital. The various literatures examining the empirical consequences of social capital are brought together from across academic disciplines to demonstrate a remarkable range of effects. A model is then presented to account for the causal pathways that create social capital, and that lead from social capital to its outcomes. International evidence is used to establish whether social capital is on the decline, and the thorny question of whether social capital can harm or exclude is also examined. Finally, the policy implications are considered, including how social capital can be measured, created and utilized. Social Capital offers an overview of one of the most important and exciting areas to emerge out of the social sciences in many years. It assumes no previous knowledge of the literature or statistics, and will be of interest to students and researchers in politics, sociology, social administration and social psychology and to the general reader interested in finding out more about how social capital affects all our lives.

Product Description: Since its introduction in 1984, MATLAB's ever-growing popularity and functionality have secured its position as an industry-standard software package. The user-friendly, interactive environment of MATLAB 6.x, which includes a high-level programming language, versatile graphics capabilities, and abundance of intrinsic functions, helps users focus on their applications rather than on programming errors...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: The book shows how the new observations from satellites required advances in theory and influenced societal decision-making. Chapters have a review with an extensive reference list, making the book an excellent source of information for biological and physical oceanographers and atmospheric scientists...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

This text explores the long-term policy options available to Britain as it moves into the 21st century. The report serves as a source of ideas and information to both policy-makers and to a wider audience, and should increase the honesty and imagination in political debate in Britain. (view table of contents)

Product Description: This text explores the relationship between the planned or built environment and the occurrence of mental ill-health. It begins by providing a broad overview of what is known about the causes of psychopathic behaviour. It then goes on to discuss the issues that arise when attempting to identify: the impact of the environment as a source of stress; the effects that the environment can have on the quality of relationships between people; and the relationship between symbolic aspects of the environment, the planning process and mental health...read more