Siri Isaksson

About me:                                     

I am an Assistant Professor (tenure track) in Behavioral Economics at the FAIR group at the Norwegian School of Economics. I  got my PhD in Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics 2019. I spent the last three years of my PhD program as a research fellow at Harvard University, first with the Econ CS group at Harvard SEAS, and then with the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School.   My primary research areas are experimental and behavioral economics.  Specifically, I am interested in understanding how gender differences in everyday decision-making translate into unequal outcomes for men and women.  In my job market paper “It Takes Two: Gender Differences in Group Work”, I demonstrate that women consistently under-credit their contributions to shared work - and that this effect is strongest among women who contribute the most, and work on complex solutions. This paper introduces a novel experimental framework which has been since been used to study related topics in gender, such as corrections and team work and whether incentives to exaggerate matter for the gender gap in claiming credit. I am currently working on a follow-up study on whether there is a gender bias in external attribution of credit for contributions to successful group work, and whether speaking up and claiming credit can reduce such a bias. The preliminary findings show that people who claim more credit, get more credit - this is true for both genders. Also interestingly, actual contribution does not matter for how much credit you get, instead claims seem to be determining this. I am also working on a new research project which provides insights into how the gender gap in speaking up can be closed. Together with co-authors, I have studied gender differences in retaliation, and advice seeking. I have also collaborated on several replication studies. My latest project is on gender differences in adoption and proficiency of AI, this is join work with Catalina Franco and Daniel Carjaval at NHH.

I am passionate about teaching, and have taught a wide variety of courses ranging from firm competition and IO, to behavioral economics. I've given guest lectures in a variety of courses including Gender Economics at Yale University and Fairness at NYUAD. My teaching philosophy is that students should come prepared and discuss various topics, rather than listen to a lecture passively. 

I'm currently serving on the board of the Norwegian School of Economics, and was part of the recruitment committee 2020 and 2021 for positions in labor and behavioral economics. 

I hold an M.Sc from the Stockholm School of Economics and a B.Sc. from Humboldt University of Berlin. I regularly refree for journals such as Management Science, JEBO, EJ, AEJ, GEB, JHR, Science and others.

Please click here to see my full CV.

PUBLICATIONS:

Co-authored with: Colin F. Camerer and others:

"Evaluating the replicability of social science experiments in Nature and Science between 2010 and 2015", Nature Human Behaviour. 2018

Camerer CF, Dreber A, Forsell E, Ho TH, Huber J, Johannesson M, Kirchler M, Almenberg J, Altmejd A, Chan T, Heikensten E, Holzmeister F, Imai T, Isaksson S, Nave G, Pfeiffer T, Razen M, Wu H. “Evaluating replicability of laboratory experiments in economics.” Science. 2016

Dreber, Anna, Thomas Pfeiffer, Johan Almenberg, Siri Isaksson, Brad Wilson, Yiling Chen, Brian A. Nosek & Magnus Johannesson (in press). “Using Prediction Markets to Estimate the Reproducibility of Scientific Research”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  2015

WORK IN PROGRESS:

 *NEW* "Will Articifical Intelligence get in the way of achieving gender equality?" (With Daniel Carvajal and Catalina Franco) 

Abstract: The promise of generative AI to increase human productivity relies on developing skills to become proficient at it. There is reason to suspect that women and men use AI tools differently, which could result in productivity and payoff gaps in a labor market increasingly demanding knowledge in AI. Thus, it is important to understand if there are gender differences in AI-usage among current students. We conduct a survey at the Norwegian School of Economics collecting use and attitudes towards ChatGPT, a measure of AI proficiency, and responses to policies allowing or forbidding ChatGPT use. Three key findings emerge: first, female students report a significantly lower use of ChatGPT compared to their male counterparts. Second, male students are more skilled at writing successful prompts, even after accounting for higher ChatGPT usage. Third, imposing university bans on ChatGPT use widens the gender gap in intended use substantially. We provide insights into potential factors influencing the AI adoption gender gap and highlight the role of appropriate encouragement and policies in allowing female students to benefit from AI usage, thereby mitigating potential impacts on later labor market outcomes. [UNDER REVIEW]

"Shine a light (on the bright): Awards and the gender gap in knowledge contributions in STEM" (with Jana Gallus and Emma Heikensten)

Abstract: Collaborative knowledge work may suffer if high-ability individuals do not feel confident to speak up and advance their ideas (e.g., due to self-stereotyping). We test whether recognition through awards increases high-ability group members’ confidence to speak up when working on male-typed knowledge tasks. We use a lab experiment to study performance-based recognition with different degrees of publicness: private recognition, virtual award, ceremony. First, we show that self stereotyping affects women’s contribution of ideas in mathematics. Second, awards significantly increase recipients' and hence high-ability subjects’ confidence to speak up. Third, the awards’ visibility does not matter much, except when interacted with gender. The gender gap in confidence to speak up disappears among high-ability participants when awards are celebrated in a ceremony with face-to-face recognition. Losers remain unaffected. Further experiments shed light on the mechanisms and allow us to compare recognition to pure performance feedback. [UNDER REVIEW]

“It Takes Two: Gender differences in in group work.- Part II” [Draft in progress]

This study analyzes gender differences in two dimensions of attribution of credit for successful group work: 1. Are women attributed less than appropriate credit for their contributions to group work? 2. Does the fact that women claim less credit for their contributions to group work affect how much credit they end up getting? In addition, it explores mechanisms that may be driving results. I finf that female and male claims are evaluated equally, indicating that women should claim as much credit as their male counterparts for successful group-work. Pre-plan available here: OSF 

“It Takes Two: Gender differences in in group work.” [JOB MARKET PAPER]

Abstract This study tests for gender differences in credit claimed for individual contributions to group work. I introduce a novel experimental design in which two subjects work together on solving a computerized puzzle, by making alternating moves. Participants play nine rounds, each time with a new partner and puzzle. After each puzzle, they are asked to estimate their contributions towards the solution in incentivized questions. There are no gender differences in ability: women and men are equally good at solving the puzzle both individually and in teams. Despite their equal contribution, women consistently claim less credit than men. This effect is strongest among high contributing women, and women in groups that implemented more complex solutions. I also explore the propensity of participants to undo a partner's move, and I find that men are more likely to correct a partner when he or she made a move that was wrong. These results suggest that gender differences in claiming credit may contribute to the labor market gender gap.

Working paper: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hafhh70p3li9tij/1120jmp.pdf?dl=0 

“In favor of girls: A field study of adults' beliefs in children's ability.” (with Emma Heikensten). [UNDER REVIEW]

Abstract In this paper, we examine whether adults (N=123) engage in gender discrimination when seeking advice from children (N=38). To answer this question, we collect data from the five seasons of the Swedish Game Show  “Are you smarter than a 5th grader?” where adult contestants choose a boy or a girl from 5th grade to help them earn large amounts of money by answering questions from the primary school curriculum. We observe that girls are 9.5 percentage points more likely to be asked for advice than boys. This corresponds to a 18,1 percent gap in favor of girls. The favoritism is not rational since boys and girls perform equally well.

“Simon Says: Examining gender differences in advice seeking and influence in the lab.” (with Emma Heikensten). 

Abstract Advice seeking is an important part of both professional and personal decision making. In this paper, we investigate gender differences in the propensity to seek costly advice and if the gender of the advisor influences this decision. Over two treatments, we vary the amount of information that advisees receive about advisors on the quality of their advice. We also use two types of questions, mathematical and verbal, to test the effect of stereotyped domains. Our findings suggest that women seek less advice than men. This result is driven by men seeking more advice on verbal tasks, and women seeking less advice when information about it's quality is introduced. Furthermore, the advisor's gender does not influence the decision to seek advice and we do not find that advisees seek more (or less) advice from advisors of the same gender.

Working paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3273186 

“Gender differences in revenge and strategic play: a natural experiment.” (with Sirus Dehdari Emma Heikensten and Mateusz Myliwski).

Abstract This paper provides new evidence of gender differences in retaliatory behavior. Using game show data from a natural setting where stakes are high, we ask whether men are more likely to retaliate following an attack and whether the gender of the target matters for this decision. The behavior studied in this paper is the decision of whom to send the question to in a quiz show setting. We observe a 23 percent gender gap in the propensity to retaliate:  women are less likely to seek revenge. The gender of the target matters for women but not for men, with women being more likely to retaliate against men than women. In addition, we show that retaliation is a successful way to avert future attacks in the short term. This is especially true for women, yet we find that women seek less revenge than men.[UNDER REVIEW]

Working paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3378279 

"The Effects of Gendered Virtual Assistants", with Kirby Nielsen and Ian Chadd. Status: design 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE:

Behavioral Economics (Graduate) - Fall 2021 

Student Evaluation: 4.5/5

Firm Strategy and Competition (Undergraduate)- Fall 2021

Student Evaluation: 4.48/5

Human Capital, Mobility, and Diversity in Firms (Graduate) - Fall 2020 and 2021

Student Evaluation: 4.45/5

In addition, I have moderated class discussions in the Undergraduate course in International Trade 2020 and 2021.

During graduate studies:

Microeconomics II (PhD) - Fall 2015

International Economics (Undergraduate) - Fall 2014 

Introduction to LaTeX (at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin) - Fall 2010 

COLLABORATORS:

Emma Heikensten

Semsomi

Sirus Dehdari

Kirby Nielsen

Ian Chadd

Gabe Mansur

SUPERVISION:

Pablo Soto Mota  I served as first opponent

Vegard Sjurseike Wiborg  (PhD 2022) - I served as 1st opponent

Yuki Takahashi (PhD 2022 ) - I serve on the evaluation committee

Master thesis advicing: 

Hyunyi Um and Joelle Soumi (2023)

Juni Holberg and Sara Sadeghi Khosroshahi  (2023) 

Ada Hetland (2023)

Ingeborg Kolstad and Hanne Skattemyr (2023)

Siri Sandnes and Marlen Garli (2022).

COMMUNITY WORK:

I love contributing to culture and my community. I care deeply about and try to promote gender equality and diversity. Towards this end, I have served in various positions both voluntarily and as part of my job. At the moment, I am on the board of the Norwegian School of Economics where I was elected to represent the non-tenured faculty. 

I am also a founding board member of the first Jewish organization in Bergen.  I  frequently serve on panels  and other fora  to discuss how to promote gender equality.