I am an Associate Professor of Economics at San José State University and co-director of the Spartan Experimental Economics Lab (SEEL). I am an experimental and behavioral economist studying how uncertainty shapes cooperation, fairness, and institutional enforcement. Much of my work examines these questions in relation to culture, religion, and social norms.

My current research examines cooperation under uncertainty, redistribution when people differ in their exposure to luck, and the role of formal and informal enforcement in sustaining exchange.

Curriculum Vitae

Publications

When Superstition Outperforms Truth: Belief Transmission, Sacrifice, and Cooperation under Environmental Uncertainty. Evolution and Human Behavior, 47(3), 2026, 106831.

From Shocks to Solidarity and Superstition: Exploring the Foundations of Faith. With Laurence Iannaccone. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 229, 2025, 106775.

Reputation or Court: Individualism, Collectivism, and the Choice of Enforcement Mechanism in Exchange. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 217, 2024, 184–206.

God Games: An Experimental Study of Uncertainty, Superstition, and Cooperation. With Laurence Iannaccone. Games and Economic Behavior, 139, 2023, 88–116.

Individualism, Collectivism, and Trade. With Erik Kimbrough. Experimental Economics, 22(2), 2019, 294–324. Lead article.

Exchange in the Absence of Legal Enforcement: Reputation and Multilateral Punishment under Uncertainty. With Jared Rubin. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 35(1), 2019, 192–237.

Working Papers

Do Individualists and Collectivists Cooperate Differently? With Erik Kimbrough and Brock Stoddard. Revise and resubmit, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.

Seeing Yourself in Others: How Shared Experience Shapes Fairness Preferences.

The Evolution of Cooperation: The Case for Noise. With Laurence Iannaccone.

Testamentary Power and Wealth Accumulation: Islamic Inheritance Law versus Primogeniture. Available upon request.

Selected Work in Progress

Tolerating Lies: Prosocial Excuses and the Enforcement of Misconduct.

Extractive Sovereign, Property Rights, and Enforcement Mechanisms.

Cooperation in Chaos.