Framing effects can be very influential, and to the degree that you can think of a task as close rather than distant, you're more likely to actually get it done.

There are certainly valid reasons for taking a company private, and it's also possible that C.E.O.s perform better when monitored by a small number of owners in a private company rather than by the dispersed and often uninterested shareholders of a public corporation.

There does seem to be some evidence that as people get older, they procrastinate less, perhaps because they feel the pressure of time more.

The challenge for capitalism is that the things that breed trust also breed the environment for fraud.

Lower oil prices won't, by themselves, topple the mullahs in Iran. But it's significant that, historically, when oil prices have been low, Iranian reformers have been ascendant and radicals relatively subdued, and vice versa when prices have been high.

I tend to have a hard time working on pieces long before they're due. That's why I think the fact that I write a column is really good for me - the column has to be done, and there's no getting around it.

The smartest groups, then, are made up of people with diverse perspectives who are able to stay independent of each other.