Economics is often seen as the science of incentives, but in the real world, an incentive only works if a human can actually interact with it. Too often, brilliant economic models fall apart because the "last mile"—the human interface—is too complicated.
The Friction Problem
When we design a market, we assume participants have full information and zero friction. But in reality, every extra click in an app or every confusing field in a tax form is a tax on participation. If we want to solve efficiency, we have to solve usability.
Applied researchers need to speak the language of product designers. We shouldn't just be asking "Is this incentive compatible?" we should be asking "Is this intuitive?"