I have the Freakonomics blog in my RSS reader and a headline caught my eye as I scrolled through this morning.

“Manipulating Yourself for Your Own Good”

I excitedly clicked on the link hoping that the Freakonomics crew would explode once and for all the rumours that self-manipulation caused hairy palms or blindness, but was disappointed to read this instead.

Standard economic theory implies that we maximize our happiness if we have more choices. Yet we limit our choices — impose self-control mechanisms — voluntarily in order to improve our well-being. For example, I just signed a book contract with a small advance payment.

Humph. How boring. They sure sucked me in.

(By the way, if anyone can put my mind at ease regarding the palms and eyesight thing that would be much appreciated.)