Associate Professor of Economics and Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Economics, University of Oregon
Faculty Affiliate - Center for Effective Global Action
Associate Editor - Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Education: Ph.D., Economics, UC San Diego, 2014.
Research Interests: Behavioral Economics, Public Economics, Labor Economics, Consumer Finance
Contact Information: mkuhn@uoregon.edu, 517 Prince Lucien Campbell Hall
I am an applied behavioral economist with an interest in applications to consumer finance, public economics and labor economics. I use a variety of methods —laboratory experiments, field experiments and observational data analysis— to study the importance of behavioral theory for economic policy, the determinants of preferences and preference-elicitation methodology.
published and accepted papers
“Behavioral Food Subsidies,” with Andy Brownback and Alex Imas. Accepted, Review of Economics and Statistics. Funded: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Evidence for Action grant.
“The Role of Credit Reports in Digital Lending: a Case Study from Mexico,” with Alfredo Burlando and Silvia Prina. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 2024.
“Waiting to Choose: The Role of Deliberation in Intertemporal Choice,” with Alex Imas and Vera Mironova. American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 2022.
“Electronic Benefit Transfer and Food Expenditure Cycles.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2021.
“Toward an Understanding of the Development of Time Preferences: Evidence from Field Experiments,” with James Andreoni, John List, Anya Samek, Kevin Sokal, and Charles Sprenger. Journal of Public Economics, 2019.
“Understanding Outcome Bias,” with Andy Brownback. Games and Economic Behavior, 2019.
“Building Rational Cooperation on Their Own: Learning to Start Small,” with James Andreoni and Larry Samuelson. Journal of Public Economic Theory, 2019.
“Who Feels the Calorie Crunch and When? The Impact of School Meals on Cyclical Food Insecurity.” Journal of Public Economics, 2018. Funded: University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research grant.
“Decision-Environment Effects on Intertemporal Financial Choices: How Relevant are Resource-depletion Models?” with Peter Kuhn and Marie Claire Villeval. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2017.
“Measuring Time Preferences: A Comparison of Experimental Methods,” with James Andreoni and Charles Sprenger. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2015.
[Journal Article] [Paper + Appendix] [NBER Working Paper] [Time Preference Estimation Kit]
“Experimental Methods: Extra-laboratory Experiments - Extending the Reach of Experimental Economics,” with Gary Charness and Uri Gneezy. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2013.
“Experimental Methods: Between-subject and Within-subject Design,” with Gary Charness and Uri Gneezy. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2012.
working papers and work in progress
“Too Fast, Too Furious? Digital Credit Delivery Speed and Repayment Rates,” with Alfredo Burlando and Silvia Prina. Revision requested, Journal of Development Economics. Funded: Center for Effective Action Digital Credit Observatory grant.
[Paper + Appendix] [IZA Working Paper] [Media Coverage - VoxDev]
“Cheating and Self-confidence” with Nathan Adams and Glen Waddell. Under Review.
“Time Preferences and Food Choice,” with Andy Brownback and Alex Imas. Under Review.
[Paper + Appendix] [NBER Working Paper] [BFI Working Paper] [BFI Research Brief]
“When Does Past Trauma Matter for Present Decision-making? Evidence from a Field Study on Myopia and Waiting. Periods,” with Alex Imas and Vera Mironova.
“Gender Differences in Choice of Educational Field: Evidence from a Large-scale Survey Experiment,” with Anne Toft Hansen, Sally Sadoff, and Helene Willadsen.
“Arbitrage or Narrow Bracketing? Experimental Tests of Money as a Primary Reward,” with James Andreoni, Christina Gravert, Silvia Saccardo and Yang Yang.
“Is It Safe to Measure Risk Preferences? Assessing the Completeness, Predictive Validity, and Measurement Error of Various Techniques,” with James Andreoni.
“A Second Chance at Financial Inclusion: The Impact of Repayment Plans and Incentives on Delinquent Digital Borrowers,” with Alfredo Burlando and Silvia Prina. Funded: Center for Effective Action Digital Credit Observatory grant.
“Optimal Decision Time,” with Sota Ichiba, Alex Imas, and Collin Raymond.
“Incentivizing Learning in Teams,” with John List, Sally Sadoff, and Karen Ye.
other work
“To Settle or Not to Settle: A Review of the Literature on Arbitration in the Laboratory,” expanded reference material for “Lab Labor: What Can Labor Economists Learn from the Lab?” Handbook of Labor Economics, Volume 4, Part A, 2011 by Gary Charness and Peter Kuhn.