Person
Keith Chen
Former head of economic research, Uber
Economist and Uber's former head of economic research, referenced (not interviewed) in Episode 138 via his appearance on the podcast Hidden Brain. Chen described Uber's randomised surge-pricing experiments: riders shown a 2.1x multiplier accepted more often than riders shown a round 2x, and the drop in demand moving from 1.9x to 2x was six times larger than the equivalent step from 1.8x to 1.9x (see Uber Surge Pricing Precision Study).
Chen's explanation is that people assume round prices were plucked out of the air to benefit the brand, while a precise price reads as calculated and therefore marked up less. Richard Shotton notes the data is unusually strong evidence because it comes from thousands of real riders who had no idea they were in an experiment. See Precision Effect.
Discussed in
- Episode 138 — 138-listen-to-exactly-17-minutes-and-42-seconds-of-this-episode