Academic Research

Published papers

Fairness has less impact when agents are less informed
With Judd B. Kessler and Muriel Niederle, Experimental Economics, 2024

The Myth of the Male Negotiator: Gender’s effect on negotiation strategies and outcomes
With Corinne Low, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2022

Trumping Norms: Lab evidence on aggressive communication before and after the 2016 US presidential election
With Corinne Low, American Economic Review, Papers & Proceedings, 2017
News Coverage: Washington Post, Vanity Fair, Forbes

Transaction Utility and Consumer Choice (Job Market Paper)

Abstract: This paper investigates the role of transaction utility on consumer choice. I design two laboratory paradigms to mirror shopping experiences using discounts and mark-ups (Study 1) and coupons (Study 2). My experiments isolate transaction utility from product quality inference and quantify the value of transaction utility in dollar terms. Results show that consumers experience transaction utility and will sacrifice monetary payoffs. Participants gain utility from perceived discounts, disutility from perceived mark-ups, and utility from using more of a coupon. Consumers are willing to pay 37–57 cents to gain a dollar of perceived discount and 37–78 cents to avoid a dollar of perceived mark-up. These estimates suggest a large relevance for transaction utility across a wide array of consumer decisions and purchasing behaviors.