John
A. List
Professor, Department of Economics
http://home.uchicago.edu/~jlist/
My research focuses on questions in
microeconomics, with a particular emphasis on the use of experimental methods
to address both positive and normative issues.
Much of my time has been spent developing experimental methods in the
field.
My general research strategy is to take
advantage of settings where interesting economic phenomena naturally present
themselves. In most cases nature does
not properly randomize agents into interesting control and treatment groups, so
my chore is to develop markets/constructs/experimental designs wherein subjects
are randomized into treatments of interest.
In this light, I view field experiments as representing a unique manner
in which to obtain data because they force the researcher to understand
everyday phenomena, many of which we stumble upon frequently. Merely grasping the interrelationships of
factors in field settings is not enough, however, as the field experimenter must
then seek to understand more distant phenomena that have the same underlying
structure. Until this is achieved, one
cannot reap the true rewards of field experimentation.
I have made use of several different markets to
obtain data in my field experiments, including a myriad of charitable
fundraising activities, the Chicago Board of Trade, Costa Rican CEOs, the new
automobile market, sports memorabilia markets, coin markets, auto repair
markets, open air markets located everywhere—from the US to Morocco to India—various
venues on the internet, several auction settings, shopping malls, various labor
markets, and grammar and high schools.
More recently, I have been engaged in a series
of field experiments with various publicly traded corporations—from car
manufacturers to travel companies. I
view this as exciting because I can put my theories/approaches on the line with
millions of dollars at stake rather than merely hundreds! Results thus far have been above
expectations, as successful field experiments yielding quite interesting data
patterns have been generated. The
companies have loved the field experiments too, since they have made piles of
cash (note that my payment is not money, but the data—a few papers are very
close for public distribution).
Overall, the data that I have collected have provided
insights into pricing behavior, discrimination in the marketplace, the
valuation of nonmarketed goods and services, public good provisioning,
behavioral anomalies, charitable giving, auction theory, and the role of the
market in the development of rationality.
Methodologically, I have spent time thinking
about whether laboratory behavior is a good indicator of behavior in the field,
and whether, and to what extent, markets and/or market experience affect the
size and extent of behavioral anomalies observed in lab experiments. In some cases, the increase in knowledge due
to field experiments has overturned verdicts of yesterday. In others, the findings have reinforced the
literature that has drawn inference from either lab or naturally-occurring data.
In this manner, I view field experiments as
representing a bridge between the lab and naturally-occurring data. Please visit my website for a clearinghouse
of field experiments that help shape this bridge: http://www.arec.umd.edu/fieldexperiments/
Some recent discussions of my work can be found
here:
The
Economist
http://aida.econ.yale.edu/karlan/news/NYTimes.June15-2006.pdf
http://economics.uchicago.edu/news_JohnList.shtml
http://aida.econ.yale.edu/karlan/news/Philanthropy.june14-2006.pdf
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17312118/site/newsweek/page/3/
Below I list some recent
publications. The field website provided
above includes copies of many of these studies as well as several others.
Selected
Recent Publications (please contact me if you desire a complete publication
list)
Karlan, Dean and John A. List. “Does Price
Matter in Charitable Giving? Evidence
from a Large-Scale Natural Field Experiment,” American Economic Review,
(2007), forthcoming.
Harrison, Glenn W., John A. List, and Charles Towe, “Naturally Occurring Preferences and Exogenous Laboratory Experiments: A
Case Study of Risk Aversion,” Econometrica, (2007), forthcoming.
Alevy, Jon, Michael Haigh, and John A. List. “Information Cascades:
Evidence from a Field Experiment with Financial Market Professionals,” Journal
of Finance, (2007), forthcoming.
List, John A. “On the Interpretation
of Giving in Dictator Games,” Journal of Political Economy,
(2007), forthcoming.
Lange, Andreas, John A. List, and Michael K. Price, “Using Lotteries to
Finance Public Goods: Theory and Experimental Evidence,” International Economic Review,
(2007), forthcoming.
Levitt, Steven D. and John A. List, “What do Laboratory
Experiments Measuring Social Preferences tell us about the Real World,” Journal
of Economic Perspectives, (2007), forthcoming.
Harrison, Glenn W. and John A. List, “Naturally Occurring
Markets and Exogenous Laboratory Experiments: A Case Study of the Winner’s
Curse,” Economic Journal, (2007), forthcoming.
Haigh, Michael and List, John A., “Investment under Uncertainty: Testing the Options Model with Professional
Traders,” Review of Economics and Statistics, (2007), forthcoming.
List, John A. and Daniel Sturm. “How Elections Matter:
Theory and Evidence from Environmental Policy,” Quarterly Journal of
Economics, (2006), November 121(4): 1249-1281.
Gneezy, Uri, and John A. List. “Putting Behavioral
Economics to Work: Testing for Gift Exchange in Labor Markets Using Field
Experiments,” Econometrica, (2006), September, 74(5): 1365-1384.
List, John A., “Friend or
Foe? A Natural Experiment of the
Prisoner’s Dilemma,” Review of Economics and Statistics,
(2006), August, 88(3): 463-471
Gneezy, Uri, John A. List, George Wu, “The Uncertainty
Effect: When a Risky Prospect is Valued Less than its Worst Possible Outcome,” Quarterly
Journal of Economics, (2006), November
121(4): 1283-1309.
List, John A., “The Behavioralist
Meets the Market: Measuring Social Preferences and Reputation Effects in Actual
Transactions,” Journal of Political Economy, (2006), 114(1): 1-37.
Landry, Craig, Andreas Lange, John A. List, Michael K. Price, and Nicholas Rupp. "Toward an
Understanding of the Economics of Charity: Evidence from a Field Experiment,” Quarterly
Journal of Economics, (2006), 121 (2): 747-782.
van Doest, Daan, John A. List, and T. Jeppesen "Shadow Prices,
Environmental Stringency, and International Competitiveness," European
Economic Review, (2006), 50(5):
1151-1167.
Engelbrecht-Wiggans, Richard, John A. List, and David Reiley. “Demand Reduction in a
Multi-Unit Auctions with Varying Numbers of Bidders: Theory and Evidence from a
Field Experiment,” International Economic Review (2006), 47(1): 203-232.
Haigh, Michael and List, John A. “Do Professional
Traders Exhibit Myopic Loss Aversion? An Experimental Analysis,” Journal
of Finance, (2005), 60 (1): 523-534.
List, John A. and Michael K. Price "Conspiracies and
Secret Price Discounts in the Marketplace: Evidence from Field Experiments,"
Rand Journal of Economics, (2005), 36(3):
700-717.
Engelbrecht-Wiggans, Richard, John A. List, and David Reiley. “Demand Reduction in a
Multi-Unit Auction: Evidence from a Sportscard Field Experiment: Reply,” American
Economic Review (2005), 95 (1): 472-476.
List, John A. and Michael Haigh. “A Simple Test of
Expected Utility Theory Using Professional Traders,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (2005), 102(3):
945-948.
List, John A. "Testing
Neoclassical Competitive Theory in Multi-Lateral Decentralized Markets," Journal
of Political Economy (2004), 112(5): 1131-1156.
List, John A. Robert Berrens, Alok Bohara, and Joe Kerkvliet. "Examining the
Role of Social Isolation on Stated Preferences," American Economic Review
(2004), 94 (3): 741-752.
Harrison, Glenn and John A. List. "Field
Experiments," Journal of Economic Literature (2004), XLII (December):
1013-1059.
List, John A. "Neoclassical
Theory Versus Prospect Theory: Evidence from the Marketplace," Econometrica
(2004), 72(2): 615-625.
List, John A. “The Nature and
Extent of Discrimination in the Marketplace: Evidence from the Field,” Quarterly
Journal of Economics (2004), 119(1): 49-89.
Fehr, Ernst and List, John A. “The Hidden Costs and
Returns of Incentives – Trust and Trustworthiness among CEOs,” Journal
of the European Economic Association (2004), 2(5), 743-771.
List, John A. "Young, Selfish,
and Male: Field Evidence of Social Preferences," Economic Journal (2004),
114(492): 121-149.
List, John A. “Does Market Experience
Eliminate Market Anomalies?,” Quarterly Journal of Economics
(2003), 118(1), 41-71.
Pacala, Steven, Erwin Bulte, John A. List, and Simon Levin, "False Alarm over
Environmental False Alarms," Science (2003), 301(5637),
1187-1189.
Millimet, Daniel, List, John A., and Stengos, Thanasis. "The
Environmental Kuznets Curve: Real
Progress or Misspecified Models?" Review of Economics and Statistics
(2003), 85: 1038-1047.
List, John A., Millimet, Daniel, Fredriksson, Per, and
McHone, Warren. "Effects of
Environmental Regulations on Manufacturing Plant Births: Evidence from a
Propensity Score Matching Estimator," Review of Economics and
Statistics (2003), 85: 944-952.
Fredriksson, Per, List, John A. and Millimet, Daniel. “Bureaucratic
Corruption, Environmental Policy and Inbound US FDI: Theory and
Evidence,” Journal of Public Economics (2003), 87 (7-8): 1407-1430.
List, John A. "Preference
Reversals of a Different Kind: The More is Less Phenomenon," American
Economic Review (2002), 92(5): 1636-1643.
List, John A. and Lucking-Reiley, David. “The Effects of Seed
Money and Refunds on Charitable Giving:
Experimental Evidence from a University Capital Campaign,” Journal
of Political Economy (2002), 110(1): 215-233
List, John A. "Testing
Neoclassical Competitive Market Theory in the Field," Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (2002), 99 (24):
15827-15830.
List, John A. “Do Explicit Warnings
Eliminate the Hypothetical Bias in Elicitation Procedures? Evidence from Field
Auctions for Sportscards,” American Economic Review (2001),
91(5): 1498-1507.
List, John A. and Lucking-Reiley, David. “Demand Reduction in a
Multi-Unit Auction: Evidence from a
Sportscard Field Experiment,” American Economic Review (2000),
September, 90(4): 961-972.
List John A. and Jason F. Shogren, “Calibration
of the difference between actual and hypothetical valuations in a field
experiment.” Journal of Economic Behavior and
Organization, (1998), 37 (2): 193-205.
This study reports on the first field experiment that I conducted
scientifically. Although I conducted
what amounted to several pilots in this market during the late 80s and early
90s, this experiment, which was conducted in 1995, was my first true experience
with a controlled scientific study in the field.
Books
1. Recent Advances in Environmental Economics. Edward Elgar Publishers. Edited with Aart de
Zeeuw. 2003.
2. Field Experiments in Economics. Handbook
of Experimental Economics. Elsevier. Edited with Jeffrey Carpenter
and Glenn Harrison,
2005.
3. Using Experimental Methods in
Environmental and Resource Economics.
Edward Elgar Publishers. Edited, 2006.
4. Field Experiments. Princeton University
Press. Written with Glenn Harrison,
2007 (in progress).
5. Handbook of Experimental Economics. Edward Elgar Publishers. Edited with Michael Price,
2007 (in progress).