Bad habit balance

Bad habits—even the best of us have them. But get this: A new study finds that when people give up one bad habit, they tend to trade it in for another.

For example, if you bring your own bags to the grocery store, you can feel good about sparing the environment another plastic bag. But you’re also more likely to fill your bag with ice cream.

Uma Karmarkar and Bryan Bollinger are the authors of a working paper called “BYOB: How Bringing Your Own Shopping Bags Leads to Treating Yourself and the Environment.”

Karmarkar is an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, and Bollinger is an assistant professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. They explain the details of their study.

Listen to the story on NPR’s The Takeaway.