Nate’s Notes 191: Harvard Professor Iris Bohnet on Fairness

If we’re concerned about fairness, it cannot be a program. It has to be a way of doing things. For example, DEI trainings are programs. And the research shows that they don’t change behavior. However, when Astrid Linder collected data on car accidents, she learned that women tended to have worse injuries than men because the crash test dummies that had been used to inform the cars’ design had been made to represent a prototypical male. Designing crash test dummies that are more representative of women is an example of doing things that make life more fair.

We’re all concerned about fairness. Deciding what’s fair is where there is more disagreement. But for Iris, fairness is about giving people equal opportunity.

In summary, if we want to make the world more fair, it has to be a way of doing things.

It’s a simple idea. Please take it seriously.

Iris Bohnet Bio:

Iris Bohnet is a Professor of Business and Government and the co-director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School. As a behavioral economist, she combines insights from economics and psychology to improve decision-making in organizations and society, often with a gender or cross-cultural perspective. She is the author of the award-winning book, What Works and co-author of the new book Make Work Fair.