Successfully scaled ideas are all alike;
every idea that fails to scale fails
in its own way.
"In The Voltage Effect, List argues that for an idea to have a widespread impact, it must achieve 'high voltage'—the ability to be replicated at scale. By understanding how scaling works, List says, we can drive change in our schools, workplaces, communities, and society at large. Because a better world can only be built at scale." – Wall Street Journal
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER
The Voltage Effect
Be it a medical breakthrough, a policy initiative, a product innovation, or a social movement, translating an idea into widespread impact depends on one thing only: whether it can be replicated at scale.
"Scale" has become a favored buzzword in the startup world. But scale isn't just about accumulating more users or capturing more market share. It's about whether an idea that takes hold in a small group can do the same in a much larger one. Scalability is critical to everything from expanding a small business, to narrowing the national achievement gap, to delivering billions of doses of a vaccine, to making a new technology widely affordable—and much more.
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About John
John A. List is the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. His research includes over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and several published textbooks. Previous to
The Voltage Effect, he co-authored the international best seller,
The Why Axis, in 2013.
"Brilliant, practical, and grounded in the very latest research, this is by far the best book I’ve ever read on the how and why of scaling. If you care about changing the world, or just want to make better decisions in your own life, The Voltage Effect is for you."
—Angela Duckworth, CEO of Character Lab and New York Times bestselling author of Grit
"How many books are funny and wise, practical and profound? John List is a scientist, but he’s also a magician, and he’s changing the world. The Voltage Effect shows how. This is one of the best economics books I have ever read—and an instant classic in behavioral economics."
—Cass R. Sunstein, Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard University, and New York Times bestselling co-author of Nudge
