Appointments
2013- James Jermain Professor of Political Economy, Middlebury College
2012- Associate Editor, Journal of Behavioral & Experimental Economics
2020- Editorial Board, Games
2004- Research Fellow, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
2016-25 Middlebury Fire Department Officer (Lieutenant and Captain)
2024-25 Distinguished Visiting Professor, Barnard College, Columbia University
2024-25 Visiting Professor, Center for Experimental Social Science, NYU
2011-23 Associate Editor, Management Science
2014-15 Visiting Professor, Department of Economics and Centre for Experimental Social Science, Nuffield College, Oxford University
2005-13 Associate Editor, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
2012-13 Professor, Economics, Middlebury College
2005-11 Associate Professor, Economics, Middlebury College
2010-11 Research Fellow, CIRANO
2010-11 Visiting Professor, Department of Economics, McGill University
2009-10 Visiting Scholar, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (Behavioral Economics Research Unit)
2008-09 Visiting Scholar, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
2003-04 Visiting Assistant Professor, Center for Experimental Social Science, NYU
2002-08 Member, MacArthur Foundation Network on Norms and Preferences
1999-05 Assistant Professor, Economics, Middlebury College
Education
1993-99 University of Massachusetts (Amherst) Ph.D. Economics - February 2000
1998 Economic Science Laboratory: Pre-doctoral fellowship with Prof. Vernon Smith; sponsored by the Economic Science Lab.
1997 Institute for Empirical Research in Economics: Pre-doctoral fellowship with Prof. Ernst Fehr; sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation's Norms & Preferences working group.
1993-96 University of Massachusetts (Amherst) M.A. Economics - September 1996
1984-89 University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) Carlson School of Management B.S. Accounting - December 1989
Research (see Research page for links to a complete list of publications)
Publications (10 most cited, as of July 2025):
Cognitive Skills Affect Economic Preferences, Strategic Behavior and Job Attachment, with Stephen Burks, Lorenz Goette and Aldo Rustichini, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 12, 106(19): 7745-7750 (2009). (915 citations)
Behavioral Development Economics: Lessons from field labs in developing countries, with Juan-Camilo Cardenas, the Journal of Development Studies, 44(3): 337-364 (2008). (785 citations)
Why Volunteer? Evidence on the role of altruism, reputation and incentives, with Caitlin Myers, the Journal of Public Economics, 94(11-12): 911-920 (2010). (610 citations)
Punishing Free-Riders: How group size affects mutual monitoring and the provision of public goods, Games and Economic Behavior, 60(1): 31-51 (2007). (547 citations)
Playing Both Roles in the Trust Game with Stephen Burks and Eric Verhoogen, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 51(2): 195-216 (June 2003). (456 citations)
Do Social Preference Increase Productivity? Field experimental evidence from fishermen in Toyama Bay, with Erika Seki, Economic Inquiry, 49(2): 612-630 (2011). (420 citations)
The Demand for Punishment, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 62(4): 522-542 (2007). (396 citations)
Cooperation, Trust and Social Capital in Southeast Asian Urban Slums, with Amrita Daniere and Lois Takahashi, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 55(4): 533-551 (December 2004). (396 citations)
Overconfidence is a Social Signaling Bias, with Stephen Burks, Lorenz Goette and Aldo Rustichini, the Review of Economic Studies, 80(3): 949-983 (2013). (332 citations)
Altruistic Behavior in a Representative Dictator Experiment, with Cristina Connolly and Caitlin Myers, Experimental Economics, 11(3): 282-298 (2008). (300 citations)
Publications (in top general and field journals):
Auctions for Risk-Averse Charities, with Josh Foster and Peter Matthews, the Journal of Public Economics, forthcoming.
Measuring Socially Appropriate Social Preferences, with Andrea Robbett, Games and Economic Behavior, 147(September): 517-532, 2024.
Auctions for Charity: The curse of the familiar, with Damian Damianov and Peter Matthews, the International Economic Review, 63(3): 1109-1135, 2022.
The Shape of Warm Glow: Field experimental evidence from a fundraiser, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 191(November): 555-574, 2021.
Choice Architecture to Improve Consumer Financial Decision-Making and Welfare, with Emiliano Huet-Vaughn, Peter Matthews, Andrea Robbett, Dustin Beckett and Julian Jamison, the Review of Economics and Statistics, 103(1): 102-118, 2021.
Socially Optimal Mistakes? Debiasing COVID-19 mortality risk perceptions and prosocial behavior, with Martin Abel and Tanya Byker, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 183(September): 456-480, 2021.
Advanced Counter-Biasing, with Kevin Benscheidt, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 177(September): 1-18, 2020.
Profit Sharing and Peer Reporting, with Prottoy Akbar and Andrea Robbett, Management Science, 64(9): 4261-4276 (2018).
Using Raffles to Fund Public Goods: Lessons from a field experiment, with Peter Matthews, the Journal of Public Economics, 150(1): 30-38 (2017).
The Sequencing of Gift Exchange: A Field Trial, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 139(1): 26-31 (2017).
Progressive Taxation in a Tournament Economy, with Peter Matthews and Benjamin Tabb, the Journal of Public Economics, 143(1): 64-72 (2016).
The Labor Supply of Fixed Wage Workers: Estimates from a real effort experiment, the European Economic Review, 89(1): 85-95 (2016).
Motivating Agents: How much does the mission matter? with Erick Gong, the Journal of Labor Economics, 34(1): 211-236 (2016).
An Introduction to “Bucket Auctions” for Charity, with Jessica Holmes and Peter Matthews, Games and Economic Behavior, 88(1): 260-276 (2014).
Cognitive Ability and Strategic Sophistication, with Michael Graham and Jesse Wolf, Games and Economic Behavior, 80(1): 115-130 (2013).
Risk Attitudes and Well-being in Latin America, with Juan Camilo Cardenas, the Journal of Development Economics, 103(2): 52-61 (2013).
Which Measure of Time Preference Best Predicts Outcomes: Evidence from a large-scale field experiment, with Stephen Burks, Lorenz Goette and Aldo Rustichini, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 84(1): 308-320 (2012).
Norm Enforcement: Anger, Indignation or Reciprocity, with Peter Matthews, the Journal of the European Economic Association, 10(3): 555-572 (2012).
Dopamine Receptor Genes Predict Risk Preferences, Time Preferences and Related Economic Choices, with Justin Garcia and J. Koji Lum, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 42(3): 233-261 (2011).
Jumping and Sniping at the Silents: Does it matter for charities? with Jessica Holmes and Peter Matthews, the Journal of Public Economics, 95(5-6): 395-402 (2011).
Endogenous Participation in Charity Auctions, with Jessica Holmes and Peter Matthews, the Journal of Public Economics, 94(11-12): 921-935 (2010).
Tournaments and Office Politics: Evidence from a real effort experiment, with Peter Matthews and John Schirm, American Economic Review, 100(1): 504–17 (2010).
Strong Reciprocity and Team Production, with Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis and Sung-Ha Hwang, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 71(2): 221-232 (2009).
Performance Pay and the Erosion of Worker Cooperation: Field experimental evidence, with Stephen Burks and Lorenz Goette, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 70(3): 458-469 (2009).
Charity Auctions: A Field Experiment, with Jessica Holmes and Peter Matthews, the Economic Journal, 118(January): 92-113 (2008). Reprinted in The Economics of Philanthropy and Fundraising, Volume 2: Fundraising and the Sociality of Giving, James Andreoni, ed., Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing, chapter 16 (2015).
Fairness and Freight-Handlers: a test of fair-wage theory in a trucking firm, with Stephen Burks and Eric Verhoogen, the Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 60(4): 477-498 (2007).
Books:
Game Theory and Behavior, with Andrea Robbett, MIT Press, Fall 2022.
Field Experiments in Economics, with Glenn Harrison and John List (eds.), Research in Experimental Economics (Volume 10), Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2005.
Grants, Fellowships, and Awards
IFREE Grant – to fund: Coalition formation in Cooperative Games (with Andrea Robbett), May 2021 ($10,000).
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – to fund: Dominance violations in consumer credit choices with multiple alternatives and attributes (with Emiliano Huet-Vaughn, Peter Matthews and Andrea Robbett), June 2015 ($107,040).
National Science Foundation - 3-year grant to fund the research project: Raising Money for Charity: An experimental approach (with Peter Matthews and Jessica Holmes), (SES 0617778), May 2006, ($315,319).
Combined MacArthur Foundation, Sloan Foundation, and Corporate Funding - to fund: Truckers and Turnover: Using field experiments to understand driver decision-making (with Stephen Burks, Lorenz Goette, Aldo Rustichini and others), June 2005 ($300,000).
MacArthur Foundation - Reciprocal Fairness and Preferences working group grant to fund: Veloproductivity: Field experiments (with Stephen Burks and Lorenz Goette), November 2002 ($35,000).
National Science Foundation - 5-year CAREER grant to fund the research project: The Evolution of Social Capital in Field Settings: Experimental Measurements and Agent-Based Models of Convention Evolution, (SES-CAREER 0092953), January 2001, ($281,428).
MacArthur Foundation - Reciprocal Fairness and Preferences working group grant to fund: Field Ultimatum and Dictator Games with High Stakes (with Stephen Burks and Eric Verhoogen), June 2000 and Funding Extension September 2001 ($19,800).
MacArthur Foundation - Reciprocal Fairness and Preferences working group grant to fund: Truckers and Trust: Field Experiments on Reciprocity at LTL Trucking Companies (with Stephen Burks and Eric Verhoogen), September 1999, ($35,000).
MacArthur Foundation - Reciprocal Fairness and Preferences working group grant to fund: Alchian & Demsetz Revisited: Testing the Effects of Mutual Monitoring, Reciprocity, Team Size and Residual Claimancy on Team Production, March 1999, ($12,025).
National Science Foundation - Dissertation Improvement Grant to fund the research project: Fair Bargaining: An Experimental Study of Reciprocity and Information (SBR 9730332), March 1998, ($5,205).
Russell Sage Foundation - Grants in Behavioral Economics to fund the research project: Is Fairness Used Instrumentally? Evidence from Ultimatum Bargaining (RSF 98-98-04), February 1998, ($1,750).
Teaching (courses taught)
Introductory Microeconomics
Microeconomic Theory
Game Theory
Experimental Economics
Behavioral Economics
Undergraduate Thesis Workshop