Varun Gauri is Lecturer of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, where he teaches courses on ethics, behavioral public policy, and global poverty. Previously, he was for two decades an economist in the World Bank’s research department, where he founded and headed the World Bank’s behavioral science unit. He has served on the Technical Advisory Group for Behavioral Insights at the World Health Organization, the Advisory Board of the Behavioral Science and Policy Association, the Advisory Board of the Behavioral Economics in Action Centre at the University of Toronto, the of World Economic Forum Council on Behavior, and the editorial boards of the journals Behavioral Public Policy, Health and Human Rights, and BMJ Global Health. His publications have appeared in journals such as PNAS, American Political Science Review, Journal of Political Philosophy, and World Bank Economic Review. His current research addresses behavioral economics, human rights, and social policy in developing countries. Email vgauri1 [at] gmail.com
by Varun Gauri When Yiyun Li took questions about her new novel, The Book of Goose, at my local bookstore, someone said her new novel felt awfully dark. (I don’t remember the precise wording, though Yiyun might, as she sometimes offers people she has met briefly “a detailed account” of their encounter “out of mere…
by Varun Gauri At the University of Chicago, I majored in an interdisciplinary concentration most easily characterized as Great Books. I studied with an Indian poet, a Japanese postmodern literary critic, and an historian who admired Michel Foucault, but my most influential professors were men influenced by Leo Strauss, including Allan Bloom, Joseph Cropsey, Leon…
by Varun Gauri When the Federal Reserve Bank raises interest rates to fight inflation, rates rise worldwide, and debts in developing countries become more difficult to service. The consequences for low-income countries can be severe. For instance, When Paul Volcker decided in the early 1980s to push the prime rate over 20%, he triggered a…
by Varun Gauri Effective altruism is having a moment. Books in the field are getting prominent reviews, the Effective Altruism Global conference took place in Washington DC this past weekend, and the movement now has the backing of at least a couple tech billionaires. Not bad for a social movement that celebrates self-sacrifice. The basic…
by Varun Gauri and Ayesha Khan Much has been written about the U.S. Supreme Court’s last term. The conservative majority is in a hurry to undo decades of jurisprudence. But what is the Court substituting in its place? In its recent decision, West Virginia vs Environmental Protection Agency, the Court declared that the Clean Air…
by Varun Gauri When modern Buddhists and mindfulness practitioners say the ultimate cause of stress and suffering is the craving for permanence, especially the misguided craving for a permanent “self,” which “self” are they talking about? In his interesting and provocative book Why I Am Not a Buddhist, Evan Thompson explores the possibilities: (1) The…
by Varun Gauri How should you respond to bullying? Common wisdom says fight back, or at least stand up for yourself, or else bullies — connoisseurs and lovers of power — will keep humiliating you, like Lucy snatching the football when Charlie Brown tried a kick. On the other hand, if you can’t risk a…
by Varun Gauri Do most people care a whit about foreigners? Would they be willing to reduce their own countries’ well-being for the benefit of foreign nationals? Global cooperation entails a variety of incentive-compatible deals among nation-states, but it rests, ultimately, on cosmopolitan values. If people can’t be bothered with the citizens of other countries,…
by Varun Gauri As a consequential Supreme Court term gets underway, with potentially large consequences for women’s autonomy and health, it’s worth thinking about the ways in which judges do or do not consider the real world consequences of their decisions. In his confirmation hearings, Justice Roberts, like a Clark Kent intent on hiding his…
by Varun Gauri A few years back, The University of Chicago Magazine sponsored a David Brooks parody contest. Don’t you think this one was a winner? Porn Stars in Paradise By David Brooks (and Varun Gauri, AB 88) There are two kinds of Americans. You might be surprised to hear that the basic political division…
by Varun Gauri The narrator and main character of Ishiguro’s new novel is Klara, an Artificial Friend (AF, for short). In other words, she’s an artificial intelligence, a robot, a machine. Klara’s job is to befriend and care for a sick young teenager, Josie. Why would Josie, or any human being, want to befriend an…
by Varun Gauri For many of us, reading and writing literature is a spiritual endeavor. What does that mean? In his book A Swim in the Pond in the Rain, George Saunders describes the benefits of reading and writing short stories using concepts familiar to Buddhists. In what follows, I list the Buddha’s Four Noble…
by Varun Gauri In my last speech of my last high school debate round, at the finals of the Ohio championships, I claimed victory because our opponents, a team from the local private academy, our nemesis, neglected or “dropped” our argument that taxing cigarettes would certainly, absolutely, trigger nuclear war. Therefore, I declared, whatever you,…
by Varun Gauri In his recent book A Swim in the Pond in the Rain, George Saunders offers insights into writing good short stories. I may consider his craft advice in another context; here, I want to explore the book’s implications for bad stories and, specifically, the bad stories we call public narratives. Saunders contends…
by Varun Gauri An autocratic president, whom the opposition blames for thousands of deaths, faces a referendum on his rule. The majority rejects him in the election, but around 45% vote for him to remain in office. The would-be permanent dictator begrudgingly departs, yet he retains a fanatically loyal following, especially among the religious right,…
by Varun Gauri The spirit of gift exchange animates democracy. In exchange for letting you control government, giving you power over the security forces, the common treasure, and the agencies and civil service — which is power over me — you agree to grant me those same powers — and power over you — in…
by Varun Gauri The realist case for the Democrats to expand the Supreme Court, and more generally to reform and modernize the federal judiciary, should they have the opportunity, can be stated simply: What is the point of unilateral disarmament? For several decades, Republicans have weaponized the judicial branch by appointing a large number of…
by Varun Gauri The challenge for liberal societies is to understand the allure of illiberalism in the first place, with far more honesty and subtlety than we muster. —Pratap Bhanu Mehta Why does illiberalism appear attractive to so many people in liberal societies these days? Part of the answer, certainly, is that liberal regimes, and…
by Varun Gauri Covfefe. Alternative facts. Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. “The line of ‘Make America great again,’ the phrase, that was mine, I came up with it about a year ago, and I kept using it, and everybody’s using it, they are all loving it. I don’t know, I guess I should copyright it,…
by Varun Gauri These days, fights about social identity are coming to the boil. Could mindfulness practice lower the temperature of those disputes? I want to suggest that it could. To understand why, it’s useful to start by describing the psychological components of social identity. There are a variety of ways of thinking about the topic;…