The laws of the office revisited

This episode of Planet Money revisits the "laws of the office," exploring economic principles that explain workplace behavior. The hosts delve into Goodhart's Law, illustrating how easily metrics can be gamed, and Parkinson's Law, demonstrating how work expands to fill the time allotted, even tasking a new producer to complete a segment in a single day to prove the theory. The Peter Principle is examined through the story of an employee who self-demotes after realizing she's reached her level of incompetence. Finally, the hosts discuss the unnamed law of social change, where people are more likely to adopt new behaviors if they see others doing it first, and consider how it could be applied to their office's dishwashing problem. The episode promotes a special edition poster of these laws available to those who pre-order the Planet Money book.