Published in Los Angeles Daily Journal

Several evenings earlier this month, Jews around the world gathered for traditional seders —  ceremonial dinners and services marking the commencement of the weeklong Passover holiday. At seders, the youngest in attendance asks four proscribed questions opening a dialog recounting the historical Exodus story and beginning a thoughtful discussion of its modern implications. The Exodus story relates the liberation of the Jewish people from enslavement in Egypt or mitzrayim, literally translated as “the narrow place.”

Published in Los Angeles Daily Journal

A. Bartlett Giamatti, the late commissioner of Major League Baseball, Yale professor and baseball philosopher second only to Yogi Berra, once wrote: “Baseball has the largest library of law and love and custom and ritual, and therefore, in a nation that fundamentally believes it is a nation under law, well, baseball is America's most privileged version of the level field.” It was, therefore, shocking to many when the rules were upended, and the level field tilted, by news of a cheating scandal so complex that its magnitude was dwarfed only by what many considered a failure to dispense appropriate punishment.

Published in Los Angeles Daily Journal

Driven by loss aversion, wars have been fought due to what is known as the “sunk cost fallacy.” Everything from my mother’s meatloaf, to a movie ticket, an outdated cell phone, to billions of dollars in armaments, can represent “sunk costs.” A sunk cost is one that has already been spent and cannot be recovered. Sunk costs should not be considered when making decisions. Only costs relevant to a specific decision, which may change depending on that decision, should be weighed when analyzing a course of action. But is that how our minds work? Do we need help overcoming the obstacle of the sunk cost fallacy?