2/13/24, 9:22 AM Business Insider Mail - BI on Dan Ariely?

Kate Taylor <ktaylor@insider.com>

BI on Dan Ariely?
9 messages

Kate Taylor <ktaylor@businessinsider.com> Wed, Jan 10, 2024 at 2:51 PM

To: Nick Brown <nicholasjlbrown@gmail.com>

Hi Nick,

Hope you are well, and happy new year! Following the Gino reporting from last year, I'm now finally digging into reporting
on Dan Ariely. I know we talked about him a bit last summer, but I would love to get your take on things. Let me know what
your schedule is looking like for the next few weeks — looking forward to catching up!

Kate

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Kate Taylor
Senior Correspondent, Features
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Cell: (646) 768-4740 / Signal: (646) 768-4740

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Nick Brown <nicholasjlbrown@gmail.com> Fri, Jan 12, 2024 at 4:27 PM

To: Kate Taylor <ktaylor@businessinsider.com>

Hi Kate,

Apologies for not replying earlier.

I will have time to talk most of the coming week. That's if BI hasn't been shut down by Bill Ackman, of course (see also
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/01/11/neri-oxman-accused-of-lifting-from-article-whose-plagiarism-led-to-downfall-of-
concussion-expert/).

Weekday afternoons from 3pm my time (9am your time) are generally best. On Tuesday of the coming week I have a
doctor's appointment at 4pm my time, but otherwise the calendar is pretty clear.

Best,
Nick

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Kate Taylor <ktaylor@businessinsider.com> Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 10:38 AM

To: Nick Brown <nicholasjlbrown@gmail.com>

Apologies for my delay! (And Business Insider survives so far, hah.) Would tomorrow, 1/23, or Wednesday, 1/24, at 6pm
your time/noon my time work for you? Looking forward to it!

Kate
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Nick Brown <nicholasjlbrown@gmail.com> Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 6:32 PM

To: Kate Taylor <ktaylor@businessinsider.com>

Sure, Tuesday at 6pm my time is OK.

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Kate Taylor <ktaylor@businessinsider.com> Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 6:49 PM

To: Nick Brown <nicholasjlbrown@gmail.com>

Perfect! I'll send over a Google Hangout link shortly. Looking forward to it!
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Kate Taylor <ktaylor@businessinsider.com> Fri, Feb 9, 2024 at 9:29 AM

To: Nick Brown <nicholasjlbrown@gmail.com>

Hey! The Ariely article should be coming out within the next few weeks (depending on my editor's timing.) I wanted to
send along what we discussed and make sure I've interpreted everything correctly.

When we were talking about certain professors being unbelievably productive — would you say Ariely is around
three times as productive as the average researcher or was that a more general commentary?
I'm planning to quote you on the issues related to getting rid of everyone who has ever massaged data/failed to
properly cite work as saying: It would be like "staring into the abyss because I think we would discover an
enormous number of people doing it."
And wanted to make sure I cited this correctly: "Universities very, very, very fundamentally don't care" about fraud,
Brown said. He added, paraphrasing anthropology professor James Heathers, "You should think of a university as
a hedge fund with lecture theaters attached. And that's pretty much it."

Thanks so much,
Kate
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Nick Brown <nicholasjlbrown@gmail.com> Fri, Feb 9, 2024 at 10:25 AM

To: Kate Taylor <ktaylor@businessinsider.com>

Hi Kate,

>When we were talking about certain professors being unbelievably productive — would you say Ariely is around three
times
>as productive as the average researcher or was that a more general commentary?
I don't remember mentioning a number — if I did it will have been somewhat rhetorical. In fact I'm not sure I have an
opinion about Ariely's (specifically) productivity; I don't think I've looked at his [lab's] volume of papers. Perhaps I said
something about some people appearing to be way more productive than others, which is certainly true (and can be a red
flag).

>I'm planning to quote you on the issues related to getting rid of everyone who has ever massaged data/failed to properly
cite work as saying: It would be like "staring into the abyss because I think we would discover an enormous number of
people doing it."
This is fine, yes.

>And wanted to make sure I cited this correctly: "Universities very, very, very fundamentally don't care" about fraud, Brown
said.
Did I say this quite so vehemently about universities? I certainly believe it about academic publishers. For universities I
might nuance it to "The way in which most universities deal with allegations of fraud suggests that they are, at best,
supremely indifferent to it."

>He added, paraphrasing anthropology professor James Heathers, "You should think of a university as a hedge fund with
lecture theaters attached. And that's pretty much it."
I thought it was James, but I can't find any written trace of him saying it. And he's not a professor, or indeed an
anthropologist. :-)

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=06869f1ca8&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-a:r-7066522883833041831&simpl=msg-a:r7416007892281605860&simp… 2/3
2/13/24, 9:22 AM Business Insider Mail - BI on Dan Ariely?
I did a bit of digging and it seems that this phrase has been used by a lot of people, but the original written appearance
seems to be in this article from 2016 (which mentions is as a joke that people are making): https://www.
thenation.com/article/archive/universities-are-becoming-billion-dollar-hedge-funds-with-schools-attached/ So I would
suggest something like 'He added, "As the saying goes, you should think of a university as a hedge fund with lecture
theaters(*) attached. And that's pretty much it."' (I'm not sure what I might have meant by "And that's pretty much it",
FWIW.)

(*) Is a "lecture theater" a thing in US usage? That's what it's called in the UK, albeit spelled "theatre". Maybe you have
lecture halls. Feel free to change this if it sounds clunky.

I hope this is useful.

Best,
Nick

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Kate Taylor <ktaylor@businessinsider.com> Fri, Feb 9, 2024 at 11:25 AM

To: Nick Brown <nicholasjlbrown@gmail.com>

Sounds good on the first two points. On universities — yes, you said that! Perhaps we can tweak to something along the
lines of: "Universities very fundamentally don't care" about fraud, Brown said. Their top priorities are the brand and the
endowment, not academic integrity.

And — 'He added, "As the saying goes, you should think of a university as a hedge fund with lecture halls attached. And
that's pretty much it."' — sounds good!
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Nick Brown <nicholasjlbrown@gmail.com> Fri, Feb 9, 2024 at 11:31 AM

To: Kate Taylor <ktaylor@businessinsider.com>

Yes, all good!

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