Early-Stage Research in Behavioral Economics and Applied Micro
Stefano DellaVigna, Professor
Economics
Applications for Fall 2025 are closed for this project.
This URAP project exposes the students to 2-3 ongoing projects that the professor (Stefano) is working on. The idea of this URAP group is to provide a sampling of research at the frontier in applied behavioral economics and in other areas of applied microeconomics that Stefano works on.
As such, the URAP group complements the work in the economics classes, which provide the basic material. Also, the exposure to multiple projects, as opposed to one, ensures a broader take on research projects. Warning: This intellectual ride includes exploring projects that will end up nowhere -- no way to tell ex ante! (As a colleague says, this is why it is called 're-search': it is a continual search for good questions and equally good answers.)
For example, students in past semesters worked on: (i) the analysis of how scientific journals select which articles to publish, and whether they exhibit a gender bias; (ii) eliciting what researchers (and laypeople) expect for future research findings; (iii) a meta-analysis of nudge interventions in published papers.
The URAP group -- typically 8-10 people -- meets with Stefano, sometimes facilitated by a research assistant or collaborator, once a week for about an hour, usually in person. Together we discuss the progress for the week. Afterwards, there is an individual assignment for 6-9 hours that each students completes individually. Examples are brainstorming about how to implement an idea, collecting data online, and proof-reading a paper.
For this semester, one behavioral topic we will work on is how behavioral biases aggregate to contribute to inequality in income and wealth, focusing on summarizing evidence fom the literature in a variety of areas, including financial decisions, health, and education.
For your URAP application read https://tinyurl.com/BehIneqURAPFa25 (this is a grant proposal for this project which got funded). You do not need to read all of it, see how far you can get and answer one or two of the questions as part of your write up (just 1-3 paragraphs): (i) describe with your words one of the results (not all of them!) and if/how it makes sense to your experience; (ii) Are there other behavioral frictions that you would like to see covered?; (iii) is there something that is unclear or does not seem right in the paper?
Role: There are no specific requirements, but exposure to economics classes helps.
Qualifications: There are no specific requirements, but exposure to economics classes helps. A successful applicant typically has a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
Hours: 6-8 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: In person in Evans Hall
Social Sciences