Research

I combine economic theory and behavioral approaches, such as field or laboratory experiments, to understand the economic and political context of a problem. My current projects focus on environmental and recourse economics, innovation adoption, consumer behavior, and food policy. In addition, I am deeply interested in studying social comparison and discrimination issues.

Selected Peer-reviewed Publications

*Indicates Student

[34] Chenyang Xu and Tongzhe Li. 2024. "Are Teams Conditionally Cooperative? Experimental Evidence from a Public Goods Game." Economics Letters, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2024.111763.

[33] Anna L. Abatayo and Tongzhe Li. 2024. "Unequal Returns to Public Goods and Bads: How Information and Social Nudges Change Behavior." Canadian Journal of Economics, https://doi.org/10.1111/caje.12713.

[32] Tongzhe Li, Laura A. Paul, Kent D. Messer, and Harry M. Kaiser. 2023. "It’s All Relative: Consistent Marginal Effects with Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Accept Framing in Experimental Auctions." Applied Economics, https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2023.2244255.

[31] Julia Höhler et al. 2023. "Perspectives on stakeholder participation in the design of economic experiments for agricultural policymaking: Pros, cons, and twelve recommendations for researchers." Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, DOI: 10.1002/aepp.13385.

[30] Christina Semeniuk et al. 2022. "Innovating transcriptomics for practitioners in freshwater fish management and conservation: Best practices across diverse resource‐sector users." Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, Vol 32, p. 921–939.

[29] Tongzhe Li and Danielle Roy*. 2021. "'Choosing not to Choose': Preferences for Various Uses of Recycled Water." Ecological Economics, Vol. 184, p. 106992.

[28] Tongzhe Li, Ahsanuzzaman, and Kent D. Messer. 2021. "Is There a Potential U.S. Market for Seaweed-based Products? A Framed Field Experiment on Consumer Acceptance." Marine Resource Economics, Vol. 36, No. 3, p. 1-14.

[27] Hilary Byerly, Paul Ferraro, Tongzhe Li, Kent Messer, and Collin Weigel. 2021. "A Story Induces Greater Environmental Contributions than Scientific Information among Liberals but Not Conservatives." One Earth, Vol. 4, Issue 4, pp. 545-552.

[26] Shang Wu, Jacob R. Fooks, Tongzhe Li, Kent D. Messer, Deborah A. Delaney, 2021. "Bidding Behavior in Auctions versus Posted Prices: Comparisons of Mean and Marginal Effect." Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, DOI: 10.1017/age.2021.6.

[25] Tongzhe Li, Jacob Fooks, Kent D. Messer, and Paul Ferraro, 2021. "A Field Experiment to Estimate the Effects of Anchoring and Framing on Residents’ Willingness to Purchase Water Runoff Management Technologies." Resource and Energy Economics, Vol. 63,  p. 101107.

[24] Tongzhe Li, Kent D. Messer and Harry M. Kaiser. 2020. "The Impact of Expiration Dates on Hedonic Markets for Perishable Products." Food Policy, Vol. 93,  p. 101894.

[23] Tongzhe Li, Kent D. Messer, Alisher Mamadzhanov, and Jill J. McCluskey. 2020. "Preferences for Local Food: Tourists versus Local Residents." Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 429-444.

[22] Mirzobobo Yormirzoev, Tongzhe Li, and Ramona Teuber. 2020. "Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Organic Versus All-Natural Milk – Does Certification Make a Difference?" International Journal of Consumer Studies, DOI: 10.1111/ijcs.12622.

[21] Nadia Streletskaya, Sam Bell, Maik Kecinski, Tongzhe Li, Simanti Banerjee, Leah Palm-Forster, David Pannell. 2020. "Agricultural Adoption and Behavioral Economics: Bridging the Gap." Invited Paper at Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 54-66. 

[20] Tongzhe Li, Ahsanuzzaman, and Kent D. Messer. 2020. "Is This Food “Local?” Evidence from a Framed Field Experiment." Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 179-198. 

[19] Olesya Savchenko, Tongzhe Li, Maik Kecinski, and Kent D. Messer. 2019. "Does Food Processing Mitigate Consumers’ Concerns about Crops Grown with Recycled Water?" Food Policy, Vol. 88,  p. 101748.

[18] Alisher Mamadzhanov, Jill J. McCluskey, and Tongzhe Li, 2019. "Willingness to Pay for a Second-generation Bioethanol: A Case Study of Korea." Energy Policy, Vol. 127, pp. 464-474.

[17] Tongzhe Li and Kent D. Messer, 2019. "To Scan or Not to Scan: The Question of Consumer Behavior and QR Codes on Food Packages." Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Vol. 44, Issue 2, pp. 311-327. 

[16] Alix T. Whiting*, Maik Kecinski, Tongzhe Li, Kent D. Messer, Julia Parker*, 2019. "The Importance of Selecting the Right Messenger: A Framed Field Experiment on Recycled Water Products." Ecological Economics, Vol. 161, pp. 1-8. 

[15] Mirzobobo Yormirzoev, Ramona Teuber, and Tongzhe Li. 2019. "Food Quality versus Food Patriotism: Russian Consumers Preferences for Cheese after the Food Import Ban." British Food Journal, Vol. 121, Issue 2, pp. 371-385.

[14] Olesya Savchenko, Maik Kecinski, Tongzhe Li, and Kent D. Messer, 2019. "Reclaimed Water and Food Production: Cautionary Tales from Consumer Research." Environmental Research, Vol. 170, pp. 320-331.

[13] Tongzhe Li, Jill J. McCluskey, and Kent D. Messer, 2018. "Ignorance is Bliss? Experimental Evidence on Wine Produced from Grapes Irrigated with Recycled Water." Ecological Economics, Vol. 153, pp. 100-110.

[12] Tongzhe Li, Maik Kecinski, and Kent D. Messer, 2018. "Behavioral Responses to Science-based Eco-labeling: Gold, Silver, or Bronze." Applied Economics,  Vol. 50, Issue 39, pp. 4250-4263.

[11] Olesya Savchenko, Maik Kecinski, Tongzhe Li, Kent Messer, and Huidong Xu*. 2018. "Fresh Foods Irrigated with Recycled Water: A Framed Field Experiment on Consumer Response." Food Policy, Vol. 80, pp. 103-112.

[10] Tongzhe Li and Jill J. McCluskey, 2017. "Consumer Preferences for Second-generation Bioethanol." Energy Economics, Vol. 61, pp.1-7.

[9] Tongzhe Li, John C. Bernard, Zachary A. Johnston, Kent D. Messer, and Harry M. Kaiser, 2017. "Consumer Preferences Before and After a Food Safety Scare: An Experimental Analysis of the 2010 Egg Recall." Food Policy, Vol. 66, pp. 25-34.

[8] Kent D. Messer, Joshua M. Duke, Lori Lynch, and Tongzhe Li, 2017. "When Does Public Information Undermine the Efficiency of Reverse Auctions for the Purchase of Ecosystem Services?" Ecological Economics, Vol. 134, pp. 212-226.

[7] Tongzhe Li, Maik Kecinski, and Kent D. Messer, 2017. "Heterogeneous Responses and Demographic Differences for Oyster Consumption: Evidence from Field Experiments." Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Vol. 46, Issue 2, pp. 296-314.

[6] Joshua M. Duke, Kent D. Messer, Lori Lynch, and Tongzhe Li, 2017. "The Effect of Information on Discriminatory-Price and Uniform-Price Reverse Auction Efficiency: An Experimental Economics Study of the Purchase of Ecosystem Services." Strategic Behavior and the Environment, Vol. 42, Issue 2, pp. 1-18.

[5] Jacob R. Fooks, Kent D. Messer, Joshua M. Duke, Janet B. Johnson, Tongzhe Li, and George R. Parsons, 2017. "Tourist Preferences and Externalities of Wind Turbines." Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Vol. 46, Issue 2, pp. 1-18.

[4] Tongzhe Li, Ana Espinola-Arredondo and Jill J. McCluskey, 2016. "Promoting Residential Recycling: An Alternative Policy Based on a Recycling Reward System." Games, Vol. 7, Issue 3, pp. 1-18.

[3] Tongzhe Li, 2016. "Who Does Not Want Income Equality?: An Analysis of Public Choice under Income Comparison." Social Sciences, Vol. 5, Issue 3, pp. 1-17.

[2] Michael Brady, Tongzhe Li and Jonathan Yoder, 2015. "The Columbia River Treaty Renegotiation from the Perspective of Contract Theory." Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education, Vol. 150, pp. 53-62.

[1] David Y. Chen and Tongzhe Li, 2014. "Financial Crises, Asian Stock Indices, and Current Accounts: An Asian-U.S. Comparative Study." Journal of Asian Economics, Vol. 34, Oct, pp. 66-78.

Manuscripts under Review

Tongzhe Li, Collin Weigel, Paul Ferraro, and Kent Messer. 2024. Underpowered Studies and Exaggerated Effects: A Replication and Re-evaluation of the Magnitude of Anchoring Effects. (R&R at Economic Inquiry)

Tongzhe Li, Leah H. Palm-Forster, Siddika Bhuiyanmishu*. 2024. Transaction costs, competitiveness, and participation in reverse auctions: A laboratory experiment. (R&R at Environmental and Resource Economics)

Ying Zhou, WooMi Jo, Joan Flaherty, Tongzhe Li. 2024. How Travel Vlogs Contribute to Destination Marketing: A Comparison with DMO Promotional Videos and the Moderating Role of Destination Competitiveness. (R&R at International Journal of Tourism Research)

Pallavi Shukla, Paul Ferraro, Kent Messer, Dustin Tracy, Tongzhe Li, and Collin Weigel. 2024. What Happens When Everyone Knows Behavioral Economics: Implications for the Behavioral Sciences and Policy Design.

Tongzhe Li and Bradley Ruffle, 2024. Voting for Income Redistribution in a Dynamic Income Experiment.

Bahman Pourtaherian and Tongzhe Li. 2024. Agricultural Producers’ Response to Various Messages and Messengers: A Field Experiment.

Danielle Roy* and Tongzhe Li. 2024. The Effects of Information Network and Policy Instruments on Non-Point Source Pollution.

Conor Smith* and Tongzhe Li. 2024. Recreational Anglers' Preferences for Novel eDNA Technology. 

Tongzhe Li, Maik Kecinski, and Alix Whiting*. 2022. Does Framing Influence the Power of Social Norms? A Field Experiment.

Anna L. Abatayo and Tongzhe Li. 2022. Helping the Vulnerable: A Public Goods Experiment with Heterogeneous Marginal Returns.

Work in Progress

Tongzhe Li and Siyu Wang. A Field Experiment on Impure Public Goods. (Working Paper)

Tongzhe Li. Public Goods Games Revisited in an Era of Heterogeneity. (Working Paper)

Can Transaction Cost Subsidies Increase Cost-effectiveness of Conservation Auctions? A Randomized Controlled Trial, with Leah Palm-Forster. (Data Analysis)