Robert FrankUnder the Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to Work

Robert H. Frank - Under the Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to Work — in conversation with Jonathan Chait

Frank’s book explores social contagion—the phenomenon in which the presence of a particular behavior can influence the actions of others—and argues that it should play a larger role in the formation of public policy. Laws regulating smoking, for example, limit where it can occur, but do nothing about the fact that people often take it up when they see others doing it. Discussing the fall of communism, the sexual revolution, and the #MeToo movement, Frank shows how the government could foster greater benefits if it targeted social rather than individual responsibility. Frank, a long-time Economic View columnist for The New York Times and author of books including the International best-selling The Economic Naturalist, will be in conversation with Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine .

About the Author

Robert H. Frank is the H. J. Louis Professor of Management and Professor of Economics at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. He has been an Economic View columnist for the New York Times for more than a decade. His many books include The Winner-Take-All SocietyThe Economic Naturalist, and Success and Luck (Princeton). He lives in Ithaca, New York. Twitter @econnaturalist