BANKERS AND DOCTORS—RISKY PROFESSIONS.

BANKERS AND DOCTORS—RISKY PROFESSIONS. I posted here about Meyer Burstein’s observation when I was in college that doctors and bankers tend to dress conservatively to distract attention from the fact that their professions dealt with large risks on a regular basis. These professions still deal with large risks, but there have been some changes. Doctors often wear scrubs while at work. And bank branches are somewhat less imposing—there is less classical architecture. For people who don’t have bank accounts, old-fashioned banking architecture may be discouraging. The Economist article says that a credit union set up to reach American households who don’t have bank accounts found that “more people used its services when it opened a branch in a strip mall and designed it to look like a check-casher, with fluorescent lighting and linoleum floors, than when it had a traditional bank-branch design, with plush carpets and leather chairs”.