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Kai Ruggeri

@ruggeri.bsky.social
2.8K followers 1.4K following 81 posts

Professor @Columbia studying financial decision-making & other behaviors | Officer @USAirForce & @AirNationalGuard | Ozark born and raised

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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Results from study of mental health in 92 countries (n>53,000): People are not doing well. - U-shape for age is gone: Young adults lowest health, highest illness - Education still matters (a lot) - 45% of older people live alone - Hybrid work > 100% remote or in-person Preprint: osf.io/3jyda_v1
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Sofia Pelica @sofiapelica.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
𝗔𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝟵𝟮 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 🌍, 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹-𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: - Levels of energy, calm, and resilience are alarmingly low. - The “U-shape” of happiness across age has vanished: young adults now report the worst mental health. ⚠️ - Almost half of adults over 75 live alone.
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Results from study of mental health in 92 countries (n>53,000): People are not doing well. - U-shape for age is gone: Young adults lowest health, highest illness - Education still matters (a lot) - 45% of older people live alone - Hybrid work > 100% remote or in-person Preprint: osf.io/3jyda_v1
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
For 5 years, @bjks.bsky.social has delivered episode after episode with the most influential behavioral & social psychologists of our day*. Strongly encourage you to check out his exceptional approach to hearing directly from authors that impact our field. *He also lowered standards to include me.
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
Nature vs Nurture...vs Options? We find that when the world around us changes rapidly like it did in 2020, our choice preferences, immediate environment, & critically, *the options available* are what truly shape behaviors. @senpei.bsky.social @sarahaj95.bsky.social www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
The global distribution of 53,540 participants that completed our 94-country study on mental, financial, and social well-being.
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
publichealth.columbia.edu
Global Survey Invites You to Share How You Are Doing
Professor Kai Ruggeri invites participation in a global study of mental health and well-being.
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
How are you doing? Would you like to share? We are currently running a short survey (3-4 min) in over 90 countries and languages through the link below. No tricks, no agenda - just interested in hearing how people around the world are doing. globalmentalhealth.github.io/Research
globalmentalhealth.github.io
GMH Project
Global Mental Health Project
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
If you were looking for something that wasn't polarized...
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
Tomorrow matters (almost) as much as today. In 13-country longitudinal study, we find financial well-being is as much a matter of income-wealth-debts as it is about sense of control, financial knowledge, & the future we expect (or fear). Critical data collected during extremely challenging times.
link.springer.com
Longitudinal Assessment of Financial Well-Being Across Europe Confirms the Multidimensionality of the Construct - Social Indicators Research
Research on financial well-being (FWB) is experiencing rapid growth despite a lack of internationally validated measures. Most of the literature relies on unidimensional FWB scores calculated as the s...
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
Tomorrow matters (almost) as much as today. In 13-country longitudinal study, we find financial well-being is as much a matter of income-wealth-debts as it is about sense of control, financial knowledge, & the future we expect (or fear). Critical data collected during extremely challenging times.
link.springer.com
Longitudinal Assessment of Financial Well-Being Across Europe Confirms the Multidimensionality of the Construct - Social Indicators Research
Research on financial well-being (FWB) is experiencing rapid growth despite a lack of internationally validated measures. Most of the literature relies on unidimensional FWB scores calculated as the s...
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
In a study of 100 policies & 250 policymakers, we find that a) there's no such thing as the "best" type of evidence, and b) the scale of evidence used in decisions can be a strong predictor of policy effectiveness. Freely available to all @policysciences.bsky.social
link.springer.com
Assessing evidence based on scale can be a useful predictor of policy outcomes - Policy Sciences
With growing interest in more formalized applications of scientific evidence to policy, there are concerns about what evidence is selected and applied, and for what purpose. We present an initial argu...
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
koenfucius @koenfucius.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Research by @ruggeri.bsky.social suggests there is no overall “best” type of evidence for reliably predicting policy outcomes, but assessing the evidence using a ‘level’ scale offers much more robust predictions: buff.ly/4kjdOmE
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Anna Alexandrova @annaalexandrova.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Proposals for formalising evidence evaluation fascinate n disturb me. It's notable that a certain type of study strongly predicts policy success. But the key lesson from recent #philsci that evidence is only strong when you can *combine* different types of it into a robust theory of change.
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
In a study of 100 policies & 250 policymakers, we find that a) there's no such thing as the "best" type of evidence, and b) the scale of evidence used in decisions can be a strong predictor of policy effectiveness. Freely available to all @policysciences.bsky.social
link.springer.com
Assessing evidence based on scale can be a useful predictor of policy outcomes - Policy Sciences
With growing interest in more formalized applications of scientific evidence to policy, there are concerns about what evidence is selected and applied, and for what purpose. We present an initial argu...
44416
Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Those headline stories about the decline of college enrollment this year were based on a typo. It actually went up. Seven percent.
insidehighered.com
Freshman enrollment up this fall; data error led to miscount
Freshman enrollment did not decline this fall, as previously reported in the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s annual enrollment report in October. On Monday, the NSC acknowledged that ...
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Those headline stories about the decline of college enrollment this year were based on a typo. It actually went up. Seven percent.
insidehighered.com
Freshman enrollment up this fall; data error led to miscount
Freshman enrollment did not decline this fall, as previously reported in the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s annual enrollment report in October. On Monday, the NSC acknowledged that ...
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
Seriously, 2025, we just met. Slow down a little.
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 10/01/2025
Happy #JobsDay! At 8:30 am ET, BLS delivers the most-important signals abt how economy is changing. Forecasts’ center: +155K jobs Unemployment rate (UR) stable at 4.2%
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Hayden Clarkin @thetransitguy.com · 09/01/2025
"Our cities are full" Our cities:
Google earth imagery of NW Downtown Detroit
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 06/01/2025
Stop fucking printing everything Sam Altman says like it's truth!
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Katy Milkman @katymilkman.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
6️⃣ “A Synthesis of Evidence for Policy from Behavioural Science During COVID-19.” 👉An evaluation of 19 policy recommendations detailing how evidence from behavioral science could contribute to efforts to alleviate the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by @ruggeri.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
A synthesis of evidence for policy from behavioural science during COVID-19 - Nature
Evaluation of evidence generated to test 19 proposed policy recommendations and guidance for the future.
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Sam Hirshman @hirshmansam.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
New paper: We combine evidence from a survey (correlational), bank spending data, and online experiments to show that job loss increases risk taking. Joint work with @abbysussman.bsky.social, Carlos Vazquez-Hernandez, Daniel O'Leary, and Jennifer Trueblood
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
This is consistent with a review of 747 COVID papers we published in @nature.com finding that evidence for social science and behavior claims during COVID as very high (16/18 claims were supported) and this research was highly rigorrous (average N= 16,848) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
A synthesis of evidence for policy from behavioural science during COVID-19 - Nature
Evaluation of evidence generated to test 19 proposed policy recommendations and guidance for the future.
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
Thanks! I'm just posting this to show how much I appreciate all the scholars who worked their ass off during covid to do incredibly rigorous science while trying to juggle stress, childcare, illness, etc. We owe them all a sincere dept of gratitude.
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
A new paper finds that replicability of social and behavioural science claims in COVID-19 preprints was 65.4% (this included a successfull replication from my own lab--Sternisko et al) www.nature.com/articles/s41... This is just more evidence that research on COVID was actually quite robust.
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
PEOPLE WANT CHOICE OVER WHAT THEY SEE ONLINE: *Strong* preferences in our 26-country study for individual ownership of social media feeds, online shopping suggestions, news. People globally prefer individual ownership far more than government or commercial policy oversight. osf.io/preprints/os...
It won't suprise you, but this image shows just how much people prefer that they have control over what they see in social media feeds, online shopping platforms, and all sorts of website formats. There's a bit of a mix in terms of people preferring governments versus companies having a say over what we see, but all 26 countries place individual choice at the top. But is it realistic? Do people really set their feeds manually and control other sites? Or do we say we want one thing and actually end up letting the decision being made for us?In this visual, we find that in all 26 countries, people place the lowest value on commercial outcomes when it comes to what matters most in how websites are set up. Social and personal benefits are pretty similar around the world, but are typically valued substantially more than commercial outcomes. Read the pre-print for more information, such as how trust and other personal values impact these patterns.
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
PEOPLE WANT CHOICE OVER WHAT THEY SEE ONLINE: *Strong* preferences in our 26-country study for individual ownership of social media feeds, online shopping suggestions, news. People globally prefer individual ownership far more than government or commercial policy oversight. osf.io/preprints/os...
It won't suprise you, but this image shows just how much people prefer that they have control over what they see in social media feeds, online shopping platforms, and all sorts of website formats. There's a bit of a mix in terms of people preferring governments versus companies having a say over what we see, but all 26 countries place individual choice at the top. But is it realistic? Do people really set their feeds manually and control other sites? Or do we say we want one thing and actually end up letting the decision being made for us?In this visual, we find that in all 26 countries, people place the lowest value on commercial outcomes when it comes to what matters most in how websites are set up. Social and personal benefits are pretty similar around the world, but are typically valued substantially more than commercial outcomes. Read the pre-print for more information, such as how trust and other personal values impact these patterns.
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
PREPRINT: Across 26 countries, we find strong preferences for individual ownership of social media feeds, commercial shopping site setup, and other online platforms. Across countries, people prefer individual ownership far more than government or commercial policy oversight. osf.io/preprints/os...
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
PREPRINT: Across 26 countries, we find strong preferences for individual ownership of social media feeds, commercial shopping site setup, and other online platforms. Across countries, people prefer individual ownership far more than government or commercial policy oversight. osf.io/preprints/os...
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Tanja Pyhäjärvi @pyhatanja.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Big news from Finnish publication forum. Almost all MDPI and Frontiers journals will be downgraded to level 0 and thus are not considered as properly peer reviewed trustworthy scientific journals. julkaisufoorumi.fi/en/news/chan...
julkaisufoorumi.fi
Changes to the classification
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Across multiple studies and many countries, we continue to find no differences in risk-taking or common cognitive biases between economic groups. Specifically, no differences between people had moved upward economically and those that remained low-income. New paper on this coming soon...
nature.com
The persistence of cognitive biases in financial decisions across economic groups - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - The persistence of cognitive biases in financial decisions across economic groups
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Steph Tully @stephtully.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
Very interesting & consistent with my research with Eesha Sharma and Xiang Wang demonstrating that decisions under scarcity are not inherently less thoughtful or more myopic, but rather driven by attempts to address needs threatened by a lack of responses (JPSP: psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...).
psycnet.apa.org
APA PsycNet
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
David Brady @davebrady72.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
What I’ve called the “new new behavioralism” re poverty & cognitive decisions: “We therefore conclude that choices impeded by cognitive biases alone cannot explain why some individuals do not experience upward economic mobility. Policies must combine both behavioral and structural interventions”
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Shengwu Li @shengwuli.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
In my opinion, we should cite (well-conducted) replications every time we cite the original finding. We should cite it even if the original result replicates. It says a lot that an independent team of researchers is able to find the same effect.
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
I have doubts about the veracity of this
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Positive word to academics: A paper I’ve worked on for years but had extreme difficulty getting published, with some really nasty or unhelpful reviews, has finally been accepted today. If you’ve got a paper like that, the science is solid & you’ve done the work: hang in there, it’ll happen.
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Global Collaboration Opportunity: If you are (or know someone) from a country often missed in research, and are interested in a global study on mental health like this one, please write to me! We have many team members in Europe and English-speaking countries, but would love to involve many more!
hqlo.biomedcentral.com
Well-being is more than happiness and life satisfaction: a multidimensional analysis of 21 countries - Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
Background Recent trends on measurement of well-being have elevated the scientific standards and rigor associated with approaches for national and international comparisons of well-being. One major th...
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Across multiple studies and many countries, we continue to find no differences in risk-taking or common cognitive biases between economic groups. Specifically, no differences between people had moved upward economically and those that remained low-income. New paper on this coming soon...
nature.com
The persistence of cognitive biases in financial decisions across economic groups - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - The persistence of cognitive biases in financial decisions across economic groups
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Jake Reynolds @jakereynolds.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Complexity > risk. Nice. But let's calm down. What about: 1️⃣ Alternative explanations: Isn't this just risk processing with reference points? 2️⃣ The right data: If it's about cognitive load, show me process data. 3️⃣ Replication: More data. + Don't forget @ruggeri.bsky.social's work globalizing PT.
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Finally open(ish) access: In a multi-arm study, we find that individuals known as "positive deviants" are significantly better at managing financial decisions (high saving & investing; limited debt & waste). Some unique behaviors, like preference for lump sums, may indicate why. shorturl.at/Rwzdc
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
A few years ago, we ran a study of temporal discounting in 61 countries. Findings unmistakably indicated that temporal choice anomalies were a global concept, where environment - more so than culture - had significant impacts on country differences. A recent study has extended our work.
nature.com
The globalizability of temporal discounting - Nature Human Behaviour
Ruggeri et al. find in a study of 61 countries that temporal discounting patterns are globally generalizable. Worse financial environments, greater inequality and high inflation are associated with ex...
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Another great resource from @dggoldst.bsky.social!
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Richard Thaler @rthaler.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
I think this point by Deborah is key. The data colada team is b-school based and have raised standards for everyone. IMHO this article is well below the standard I expect from the Atlantic.
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
A few years ago, we ran a study of temporal discounting in 61 countries. Findings unmistakably indicated that temporal choice anomalies were a global concept, where environment - more so than culture - had significant impacts on country differences. A recent study has extended our work.
nature.com
The globalizability of temporal discounting - Nature Human Behaviour
Ruggeri et al. find in a study of 61 countries that temporal discounting patterns are globally generalizable. Worse financial environments, greater inequality and high inflation are associated with ex...
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Reposted by Kai Ruggeri
Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 13/12/2023
Behavioral science policy recommendations early in the pandemic were *largely correct*. Our global collaboration of 80+ experts covers 747 studies (average sample size over 16,000!) & supports 16 of 19 claims. Many lessons for science & policy. Out today in Nature: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Despite what many folks falsely said, research on the pandemic was rock solid: COVID studies were more likely to use stronger designs, larger samples, justify their sample sizes based on power analysis, pre-register their hypotheses and analysis plans + make their data, materials & code available!
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
This paper by @mariogollwitzer.bsky.social, @stephannuding.bsky.social, @rolandimhoff.bsky.social, et al may become one of the most important of all behavioral science during/since 2020. Psychological research *was no less rigorous* during pandemic; may even have improved some.
royalsocietypublishing.org
How the pandemic affected psychological research | Royal Society Open Science
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many journals swiftly changed their editorial policies and peer-review processes to accelerate the provision of knowledge about COVID-related issues to a wide aud...
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 25/10/2024
Polarization is quite literally killing us. Newest with @jayvanbavel.bsky.social, @ericdknowles.bsky.social, and @sgadarian.bsky.social in @natureportfolio.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Political polarization and health - Nature Medicine
Political polarization is an understudied determinant of health. This Review describes the types of political polarization and how they impact the health of populations and individuals, including pote...
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Kai Ruggeri @ruggeri.bsky.social · 16/10/2024
Presented research at NYU Psych yesterday and want to credit them for restoring academic engagement. Packed room of 50+, more questions than time, challenging/collegial discussions. No blank zoom screens. Huge faculty + student turnout. We should follow the lead from @jayvanbavel.bsky.social et al.
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