Metadata and project histories: More metadata about my published projects can be found on my OSF profile: http://osf.io/zuxpn (link to the specific project pages provided below). This may include grant applications related to the published project, pilot surveys, and initial manuscript submissions. If you are interested in a particular aspect of the history of a project, please reach out. 

Below I also indicate the submission history of my papers (with co-author approval). DR stands for “Desk Reject”. My special thanks go towards the many seminar participants and constructive reviewers who have helped me better understand my work over the years.

PUBLICATIONS

Eliciting temptation and self-control through menu choices: a lab experiment, Econometrica, Vol. 86, No. 3 (2018), 859-889. [supplemental appendix] [slides] [OSF page]

Submission History: Quarterly Journal of Economics (DR), Econometrica (conditionally accepted after one round) 

Cautious Deferral, Indecisiveness and Preference for Flexibility, with Leonardo Pejsachowicz, Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 170 (2017), 417-425. [supplemental appendix] [older version] [slides] [OSF page]

Submission History: Econometrica (the nicest rejection I have ever received), Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Economic Theory (accepted after one round)

Intention-Based Reciprocity and Signaling of Intentions, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol. 137 (2017), 132-144, [supplemental appendix] [older version] [slides] [OSF page]

Submission History: Games and Economic Behavior, Management Science (DR), JEEA (DR), Economic Journal, AEJ Microeconomics (DR), European Economic Review, JEBO (conditionally accepted after one round).

 

WORKING PAPERS

Stochastic Dominance and Demand for Surprise

Abstract: Decision theorists usually take a normative view on stochastic dominance: a decision maker who chooses a dominated lottery must be making a mistake. This paper provides evidence that stochastic dominance violations may naturally occur in situations where anticipatory utility is high, such as going on a holiday trip. In such a situation, the decision maker may trade the certainty of going to their favorite destination for the excitement of not knowing where they will go. I document this phenomenon in an experiment in which participants make choices between a sure destination and a “surprise lottery” over holiday trips, with the lottery outcome revealed close to the date of travel. I vary lottery characteristics to understand when violations are most likely to occur and analyze their properties. I discuss the implications for the design of goods with a surprise element and for the modelling of anticipatory utility.

Revealing temptation through menu choice: field evidence [supplemental appendix] [slides]

Abstract: In a field study with participants in a weight loss challenge, I use the menu choice approach of Gul and Pesendorfer (2001) to explore the extent to which preference for smaller menus may “reveal” temptation. Focusing on the temptation to eat unhealthy, I elicit participants’ preferences over a set of lunch reimbursement options (“the menus”), which differed in the range of foods covered. I extract information from the entire ordering to develop measures of temptation allowing to study its source, strength and structure, and validate those measures with survey data. Finally, I test whether temptation measured through menu choice predicts other behaviors that could be symptomatic of self-control problems, such as take-up of, and performance on, a goal setting contract. I find that choices to restrict the coverage are very common and generally target the foods rated as most tempting and unhealthy. Furthermore, the structure of commitment choices appears largely consistent with the restrictions imposed by the theory. Finally, those who revealed their temptation through menu choice were more likely to take up the contract and less likely to achieve their goals. The elicitation of menu preferences thus offers a promising venue for measuring self-control problems.

 

WORK-IN-PROGRESS

Most of my current work focuses on projects that aim to bring decision theory to the field. In these projects, I study the revealed preference implications of certain psychological concerns (e.g., temptation, anticipation) and derive insights for product design and choice architecture. One ongoing project studies temptation and self-control costs on food ordering platforms, with my PhD student Rafael Suchy.