Buddhist monasteries made donations legally unspendable to fund themselves forever
Ancient Indian monasteries turned one-time gifts into perpetual funds by legally forbidding spending the principal, only loaning it at interest.
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3,236 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDALS patients redirected an already-viral cold-water dare toward their disease
ALS patients redirected an already-viral cold-water dare toward their disease, raising $115 million without inventing a new campaign.
Read the caseAmish communities got cheaper hospital care by skipping insurance
Amish communities, barred from insurance, got 20-50% hospital discounts by paying cash fast, refusing to sue, and backing it with mutual-aid pools.
Read the caseAmway wrote its own compliance test before the FTC could
Amway, facing an FTC pyramid-scheme charge with no clear legal test, wrote its own auditable compliance rules and got the FTC to adopt them.
Read the caseAntwerp built a trading floor for promises
Antwerp built the Handelsbeurs, a purpose-built exchange for trading financial claims, not physical goods.
Read the caseNASA saved Apollo 13 with a duct-tape CO2 adapter
NASA engineers built a CO2 scrubber adapter from onboard scraps, saving Apollo 13 crew.
Read the caseAviation Gin turned Peloton's backlash into its own ad
Aviation Gin, seeing Peloton's ad backlash, hired the same actress for a sequel within 75 hours, turning a competitor's viral moment into its own free ad.
Read the caseAvon and Somerset Police closed a BME pass-rate gap by priming candidates before the test
Avon and Somerset Police closed a BME pass-rate gap by adding self-affirmation questions to the pre-test email, countering stereotype threat.
Read the caseBankruptcy courts paid the first bidder to attract more bidders
Bankruptcy courts paid the first bidder a breakup fee to make going first rational, attracting more bidders.
Read the caseBarbara Pratt’s mobile lab: tracing cargo damage in transit
Sea-Land moved the laboratory alongside the cargo. Barbara Pratt and her colleagues studied transport conditions to turn spoilage questions into testable changes.
Read the caseBBC avoided newspaper opposition by banning ads and using a licence fee
The BBC, to appease newspapers, banned on-air ads and funded itself via a licence fee on radio owners.
Read the caseKolkata experiment tied referral bonuses to performance, curbing nepotism
Beaman and Magruder paid Kolkata workers referral bonuses tied to the referred hire's performance, so high-ability referrers stopped recommending relatives.
Read the caseBeckman fixed fragile pH electrodes by amplifying the signal, not the glass
Arnold Beckman fixed fragile pH electrodes by replacing the weak galvanometer with a vacuum tube amplifier, letting electrodes be rugged.
Read the caseTed Benna built 401(k) plans for ordinary workers from a tax-code loophole
Ted Benna, a benefits consultant, built a 401(k) plan for ordinary workers by reading the tax code's silence on eligibility as permission, not an oversight.
Read the caseNaireeta Services banked floodwater underground to fight drought
Biplab Ketan Paul and Naireeta Services built a pipe that injects monsoon floodwater underground, banking it for dry-season irrigation.
Read the caseBigelow-Hartford won trade trust with an honest house paper
Bigelow-Hartford won trade trust by publishing a house paper that covered competitors' products honestly, even ones it didn't make.
Read the caseBill France Sr. turned moonshine runners into NASCAR's first stars
Bill France Sr. recruited moonshine runners and wrote NASCAR's rulebook to turn their illegal driving skill into a legitimate commercial sport.
Read the caseBehavioural Insights Team cut drinking by moving alcohol-free drinks to menu top
The Behavioural Insights Team cut alcohol ordered 15% by moving alcohol-free drinks to the top of bar menus, without changing prices or products.
Read the caseBlack & Abroad turned a racist slur into travel ads
Black & Abroad turned the racist slur 'go back to Africa' into travel ads for all 54 African countries, hijacking its existing reach.
Read the caseBlumhouse capped budgets to make every film a small bet
Blumhouse capped film budgets so low that home video alone recoups costs, turning each movie into a small asymmetric bet.
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