The Harvard University Center for the Environment and Bank of America presents Green Conversations with: Rick Larrick Associate Professor of Management, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University "The MPG Illusion" Joined by: Max Bazerman, Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School TODAY 5:00 pm HUCE Seminar Room Geological Museum 24 Oxford Street, 3rd Floor Harvard University Cambridge, MA "Which is more useful to know: How far you can drive on a gallon of gas? Or, how much gas you will use while owning a car?" Many people consider fuel efficiency when purchasing a car, hoping to reduce gas consumption and carbon emissions. However, an accurate understanding of fuel efficiency is critical to making an informed decision. Rick Larrick discusses the systematic misperception in judging fuel efficiency when it is expressed as miles per gallon (MPG). People falsely believe that the amount of gas consumed by an automobile decreases as a linear function of a car’s MPG. The actual relationship is curvilinear. Consequently, people underestimate the value of removing the most fuel-inefficient vehicles. We argue that removing the most inefficient vehicles is where policy and popular opinion should be focused and that representing fuel efficiency in terms of amount of gas consumed for a given distance—which is the common representation outside of the United States (e.g., liters per 100 kilometers)—would make the benefits of greater fuel efficiency more transparent.* Green Conversations are sponsored by the Harvard University Center for the Environment with generous support from Bank of America. All of these events are free and open to the public. Reception to follow. * "The MPG Illusion" Larrick, Richard P., and Jack B. Soll. Science, June 20, 2008. www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5883/1593/DC1. --- Contact: Lisa Matthews Events Coordinator Harvard University Center for the Environment 24 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138 lisa_matthews(a)harvard.edu p. 617-495-8883 f. 617-496-0425 ============================================== You are receiving this email because you indicated interest in Harvard University Center for the Environment events. Unsubscribe aspuru-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu from this list: http://harvard.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=7532d1fbf18f39219ac742ebe&… Our mailing address is: Harvard University Center for the Environment 24 Oxford St. 3rd floor Cambridge, MA 02138 Our telephone: (617) 495-0368 Forward this email to a friend: http://forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=7532d1fbf18f39219ac742ebe&id=8b6… Update your profile: http://harvard.list-manage.com/profile?u=7532d1fbf18f39219ac742ebe&id=5…