Image polishing is a powerful incentive for charitable donations.

Funeral directors might be more concerned about getting the most perks offered by airline loyalty programs than the lowest fares for shipping dead bodies.

Resource conservation depends on who pays and the time horizon of costs vs benefits.

High prices of copper have led to theft of bronze sculptures for material recycling.

Piecework pay could raise labor productivity, pay, and company earnings when output and quality are easily measurable.

Caesarean sections, which are preferred for their predictability, are more prevalent when reimbursement policy favors their practice even when they are not medically necessary.

The prevalence of yes persons is due to the difficulty of objectively assessing the contribution of white-collar work and the bosses’ human desire to hear confirming information.

Unexpected market gain resulting from uncontrolled circumstances might serve as incentives to correctly allocate scarce resources.

Taxing nonrenewable resources instead of labor income would create more jobs and encourage conservation while reducing pollution.

The booming high-tech economy and the speculative stock market have led to massive migration of skilled workers from old-line firms to Internet startups in search of overnight wealth promised by generous stock options.

Frequent flier miles are as good as money because they are redeemable for many goods and services and can be earned in many ways other than flying.