Projects to do

In a group assignment everyone gains if the work is done well, yet each person is tempted to let the others do it.

Pre-ticked boxes and automatic settings quietly steer choices, and the choice made for you often suits the app more than you.

Headlines often say one thing causes another when the two simply move together, and readers rarely notice the leap.

Self-help groups help members save and borrow with no bank branch nearby, yet most outsiders cannot say how the money actually moves.

Two tea stalls outside a college gate each wonder whether a price cut will win customers or just start a fight that hurts both.

A toll road is paid for by some people and used by others, and the people who benefit most are not always the ones who pay.

A place that everyone may use can be harmed by everyone using it, because no single visitor pays for the damage.

Stories about small loans are often either full of hope or full of warning, and each one leaves out part of the picture.

Inflation news is full of numbers, but most people only want to know what got dearer and what it means for them.

A subsidy helps the people who receive it, but it also costs taxpayers and can change what sellers and buyers do.

Students often pick a cheaper room and then lose hours and money on the daily journey, which the rent comparison never shows.

Economists sort goods by whether people can be excluded and whether one person's use reduces another's, and the labels are harder to apply than they sound.

The same active medicine can come under a famous brand name or a plain generic name, and shoppers often assume the costlier one is better.

Governments tax unhealthy goods to reduce use and raise revenue, but the two goals can pull in different directions.

Health costs are not just the doctor's fee, since travel, tests, medicines and a day's lost work all add up.

Research abstracts are written for specialists, so their findings rarely reach people who could use them.

A first number mentioned in a question can pull answers toward it, even when the number is irrelevant.

A social enterprise tries to do good and stay solvent, and the way it earns often decides whether it can keep serving its target group.

A fee added to every air ticket pays for the airport, but it also changes who can afford to travel and which routes airlines choose.

Cities often move street vendors into fixed zones, which can reduce crowding but may cut the footfall that keeps vendors alive.

A craft that sells for a good price in a city shop may leave the artisan very little, and few buyers know where the rest goes.

A survey can sound precise yet speak only for the people who were easy to reach, and the missing voices may matter most.

A randomised trial is strong evidence, but only if it was run well and the results apply beyond the place where it was done.

Rate decisions reach everyone through loans and savings, yet the announcements are written in a language that hides the reasoning.