Schooling may build human capital not only by teaching academic skills, but by expanding the capacity for cognition itself. We focus specifically on cognitive endurance: the ability to sustain effortful mental activity over a continuous stretch of time. As motivation, we document that globally...

Schooling may build human capital not only by teaching academic skills, but by expanding the capacity for cognition itself. We focus specifically on cognitive endurance: the ability to sustain effortful mental activity over a continuous stretch of time. As motivation, we document that globally...

A key question in personnel economics is how best to motivate and incentivize workers. In this dissertation, I investigate how different incentive systems affect workers' effort and decision on where to work. Rewarding different aspects of workers' performance may allow firms to prioritize...

A default option is the choice alternative a consumer receives if he/she does not explicitly specify otherwise. In this article we argue that defaults can invoke a consumer's "marketplace metacognition," his/her social intelligence about marketplace behavior. This metacognitive account of...

Consumers sometimes treat trivial attributes as though they were critically important in the sense that they have a significant impact on choice. We propose a reasons-based account to explain the valuation of trivial attributes and in particular why valuation is in some cases positive and in...

The need to justify one's decisions is a signal characteristic of decision making in a managerial environment. Even chief executives must communicate reasons for their actions. Yet, despite a significant amount of laboratory research on the effects of accountability on decision making, few...