I am really interested in how businesses and other organizations can implement economic ideas. That’s why I was really excited when I saw podcast #323 from Planet Money entitled, From Harvard Economist to Casino CEO. It’s about former Harvard economist Gary Loveman who is now CEO of Ceasar’s Entertainment Corporation, one of the largest casino companies in the world.

One of the things I found interesting was how Loveman tests everything. He completes trials of every new initiative before rolling it out company wide. Whether it’s how much of an incentive is the right amount for waiters to get their customers to order drinks (that have higher margins than food) without getting naggy and annoying, or how to decrease the amount of randomness in the level of pleasure in the Ceasar’s experience (Loveman says that it’s better to have lots of experiences distributed closely to the mean return than a wider distribution), Loveman completes as close to a randomized trial as possible.

I love Planet Money in general and if you’ve never checked them out, listen to From Harvard Economist to Casino CEO and if you’re looking for ways to implement these kinds of ideas into your organization, Contact Me about my consulting practice.