Research
Research
With James J. Heckman and Haihan Tian
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w31258/w31258.pdf
This chapter presents an economic approach to character and personality traits with an application to the study of virtue. Economists interpret psychological traits, including character traits and virtue, as strategies that shape responses to situations (actions) determined by underlying endowments, preferences, resources, as well as incentives to act in situations. Philosophers of virtue consider it to be a certain kind of practice in pursuit of a worthy goal. Psychologists consider it to be a trait or endowment and many adopt this point of view. Character traits and personality are not considered immutable in any field. They are shaped by genetics, parents, peers, and schools, as well as by habituation, imitation, and life experiences. We develop economic models to interpret and give empirical content to virtue ethics and suggest what the study of virtue ethics contributes to the study of society.
With Jessica Hoel and Prachi Jain
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s40881-022-00116-0.pdf
We use an experiment to examine whether form of payment (cash or mobile money) affects estimates of intertemporal choice and risk taking. We find that form of payment does not affect temporal discounting and risk taking. Given that participants prefer payment via mobile money, the results suggest that there are minimal concerns with using mobile money to pay participants in experimental studies.
With Charlotte Matzal, Kirsten Manahan, Kaoyi Wang, and Marta Barbarics
https://ojs.lib.unideb.hu/tmcs/article/view/10963/9723
In Hungary, ‘guided discovery’ refers to instruction in which students learn mathematical concepts through task sequences that foster mathematical thinking. A prominent figure of guided discovery is Lajos Pósa, who developed his method to teach gifted students. Rather than teaching mathematics through thematic blocks, the Pósa Method employs webs of interconnected problem threads in which problems are built on each other, and different threads are presented simultaneously, so that students work on problems from multiple threads at the same time. It was found that this method has been successful as extracurricular training for gifted students since the 1980s; however since 2017, as part of an ongoing research, the method has been applied to mainstream curriculum in two public secondary school classrooms. The present paper examines the design and implementation processes of problem threads in this public secondary school context.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jMTB0WEJ5iwtQU28S2POsjLwVZAihanl/view?usp=drive_link
Qualitative vaccine literature has proposed the hypothesis that ambiguity in medical situations contributes to vaccine hesitancy. I use a laboratory experiment to measure the impact of risk and ambiguity preferences on COVID-19 vaccination decision making. I also investigate the connection between risk and ambiguity preferences and participation in a number of COVID-Risky behaviors. I find null behavioral results indicating that COVID-19 vaccine preferences and behavior are not based on tolerance for risk and ambiguity. Instead, results indicate that preference for the COVID-19 vaccine is informed by the salience of COVID-19 and its vaccine as well as political preferences.