In the United States, it's incredibly frustrating that you have a train that leaves for Penn Station at a certain time. If someone turns up early and goes and sits in an unoccupied seat, you're actually improving the capacity of the line. Now, allowing people to travel late is slightly dubious because obviously you don't want that to happen but there are empty seats on a lot of trains going from those two cities during the day. It reduces... And yield management practice.
Author and Advertising Executive Rory Sutherland of Ogilvy talks about his book Alchemy with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Sutherland makes the case for the magic (yes, magic!) of advertising and branding in helping markets work well. This is a wide-ranging conversation on consumer choice, public policy, travel, real estate, and corporate decision-making using insights from behavioral economics and decades of experience in the world of advertising.