Sarah Jacobson (Sarah Jacobson)

I am a PhD candidate in economics at Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, with my final oral defense planned for March 2010. I am on the job market in the 2009-2010 season. I am an applied microeconomist. I apply experimental and empirical tools to the analysis of environmental, behavioral, development, and public economics issues. I am most interested in an academic position in which I can balance vigorous research activities with teaching and advising.

Curriculum Vitae (with dissertation abstracts and reference information)

My dissertation consists of three essays:

"The Girl Scout Cookie Phenomenon: Peer Pressure in Grassroots Fundraising," an experimental examination of favor-trading in support of a public good. This is my job market paper for general, experimental, and behavioral economics jobs.
"The Effects of Conservation Reserve Program Participation on Later Land Use," an examination of effects of the CRP on later land use. This is my job market paper for environmental and agricultural economics jobs.
"Learning from Mistakes: What Do Inconsistent Choices over Risk Tell Us," which links inconsistent choices in a lab risk experiment to real-life financial decisions of Rwandans. This was published (see below). Available upon request.

My advisor is Ragan Petrie, now of George Mason University, and I've had the good fortune to work with her for several years now. My committee also includes Spencer Banzhaf, James Cox, and Vjollca Sadiraj.

Publications:

“Learning from Mistakes: What Do Inconsistent Choices over Risk Tell Us?” with Ragan Petrie, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Vol. 38 No. 2 (April 2009), 143-158.
“Using Laboratory Experiments in Public Economics” with James Alm, National Tax Journal, Vol. 60 No. 1 (March 2007), 129-152.

Research in Progress:

Risk in Context: Risky Decisions over Commodity Outcomes (with Marco Castillo and Ragan Petrie)
Favor-Trading as Anti-Social Logrolling (with Jason Delaney)
Discovered Preferences for Risk (with Jason Delaney)

Other job market packet materials:

About Me

To contact me: email me at sarah (dot) jacobson (at) gmail (dot) com