behavioral economics

The Role of Motivation in Intelligence Testing

I aim to explore what is the effect of motivation on test scores and how that effect compares to the effect of cognitive ability. The literature on human capital development has long suggested that motivation plays a vital role in success in …

Experimental Methods: When and Why Contextual Instructions Are Important

An important methodological issue in experimental research is the extent to which one should use context-rich or abstract language in the instructions for an experiment. The traditional use of abstract context in experimental economics is commonly …

Beliefs and Bubbles

Efficiency and Fairness During the Great Recession

The most recent financial crisis presented policymakers with some non-trivial trade-offs. Policymakers had to decide between the efficiency, as not bailing out may lead to the economic collapse, and fairness, as bailing out redistributes the money …