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I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor with tenure) at the Department of Economics, University of Essex, UK. I obtained my Ph.D. in Economics at HEC, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.  

Click here for my CV.

Research Fields: 

Behavioural & Experimental Economics, Health Economics, Applied Microeconomics

Publications

"Information Exchange and Multiple Peer Groups:   A Natural Experiment  in an Online Community"  with Zhen Zhu. (Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2022)

"Maternal Mental Health and  Social Support from Online Communities During Pregnancy" with Zhen Zhu. (Health and Social Care in the Community, 2022)

“Spillovers of Prosocial Motivation: Evidence from an Intervention Study on Blood Donors” with Adrian Bruhin, Lorenz Goette, and Simon Haenni. (Journal of Health Economics, 2020)

“Splash with A Teammate: Peer Effects in High-StakesTournaments” (Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2020)

“The Sting of Rejection:  Deferring Blood Donors due to Low Hemoglobin Values Reduces Future Returns” with seven coauthors (Transfusion Medicine and Hemotherapy, 2020)

Working Papers

"Understanding Mechanisms of Persistence in Prosocial Behavior" with Adrian Bruhin, Lorenz Goette, and Simon Haenni (Revise & Resubmit at JPE: Micro)

Abstract: We test whether asking individuals to donate blood leads to a persistent change in behavior, and examine the underlying mechanism. In a field experiment, we randomize a phone call, asking potential blood donors to turn out, and follow them over up to 18 months. We observe significant behavioral persistence for at least one year. Using naturally occurring rainfall as a second instrument for donor turnout  allows us to  distinguish between action-based persistence (or habit formation in Stigler and Becker, 1977) and motivation-based persistence. Our results strongly favor action-based persistence  as the underlying mechanism.  

"Motivation Complementarities in Prosocial Behavior: Evidence from Social Networks of Blood Donors" with Adrian Bruhin, Lorenz Goette, and Simon Haenni (Revise & Resubmit at Games and Economic Behavior) 

Abstract: If individuals' prosocial motivations are complements, this creates an important lever in the provision of social capital. We investigate the extent of such motivational complementarities in the context of voluntary blood donations -- a key example of a purely prosocial behavior. We use a quasi-random phone call to identify causal effects. A 10-percentage point increase in the donation rate in a blood drive raises the focal donor's donation rate by about 5.6 percentage points, which creates a policy multiplier of 2.3. We also  find suggestive evidence that the motivation complementarities do not merely reflect the benefits of sharing traveling costs. They result, at least partly, from more general mechanisms, such as social approval, peer pressure, and image concerns.

Work in Progress

"Gender Stereotype and Task Allocation in Group Work" with Laura Mangold and Friederike Mengel

"Fair Play or Winning Ugly? Risk Taking Behavior in Elite Competition under Different Rules" with Alessandro Di Mattia, Pierre Regibeau, Katherine Rockett, and Elke Weidenholzer

"Mental Wellbeing in the Community of Greenstead" with an interdiciplinary team at University of Essex 

"Improving Type 1 Diabetes Self Management among Young Adults" with Gijsbert Stoet and Catherine Kerr