"The true method of knowledge is experiment" - William Blake
In my research, I use experiments and surveys to investigate decision making. I am particularly interested in learning under uncertainty and violations of rationality, including bias and discrimination.
Current Projects
Trust in social media and COVID-19 beliefs and behaviours (with Eleni Yitbarek)
Compliance with Covid-19 prevention measures: a behavioural economics approach (with Stefano Farolfi, Damien Jourdain, Eric Mungatana, Marc Willinger and Eleni Yitbarek)
Inequality, outreach and impact in public good contributions (with Carolyn Chisadza and Eleni Yitbarek)
Procrastination and grades: can students be nudged towards better outcomes?
Recent Journal Articles
Nicholls, N. (2022). Race, gender and willingness to compete. Economics Letters, 213, 110382.
Pleace, M. & Nicholls, N. (2022). Grit, motivation and university grades. South African Journal of Economics, 90 (1), 1–16.
Chisadza, C., Nicholls, N. & Yitbarek, E. (2021). Group identity and fairness decisions: discrimination or inequality aversion? Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 93.
Oyebode, B. & Nicholls, N. (2021). Does the timing of assessment matter? Circadian mismatch and reflective processing in university students. International Review of Economics Education.
Chisadza, C., Clance, M., Mthembu, T., Nicholls, N. & Yitbarek, E. (2021). Online and face‐to‐face learning: Evidence from students’ performance during the Covid‐19 pandemic. African Development Review.
Nicholls, N. & Romm, A.T. (2020). Work harder or aim lower? Overconfidence and belief updating in the classroom. International Social Science Journal, 70, 189-203.
Oyebode, B. & Nicholls, N. (2020). Social norms as anchor points for trust. The Social Science Journal.
Zimper, A. & Nicholls, N. (2020). Choosing the agent's group identity in a trust game with delegated decision making. Journal of Public Economic Theory, 22, 220-244.
Chisadza, C., Nicholls, N. and Yitbarek, E. (2019). Race and gender biases in student evaluations of teachers. Economics Letters 179, 66-71.
Nicholls, N., Romm, A.T. and Zimper, A. (2015). The impact of statistical learning on violations of the Sure-Thing Principle. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 50, 117-141.
Chapters in edited book collections
Chisadza, C., Nicholls, N. and Yitbarek, E. (2019). Women empowerment and child obesity in Africa. In M. Konte and N. Tirivayi (Eds.), Women and Sustainable Human Development- Empowering Women in Africa. Springer.
Hamann, H., & Nicholls, N. (2018). Group identity in intermediated interactions: Lessons from a trust game with delegation in South Africa. In R.M. Isaac & D. A. Norton (Eds.), Experimental Economics and Culture (pp. 227-264). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Nicholls, N. and Zimper, A. (2016). Subjective life expectancy. In The Encyclopedia of Adulthood and Aging ed. S. KraussWhitbourne. New York: John Wiley& Sons, Inc.