<title>Abstract</title> The author uses a simple classroom experiment to develop the economic model of monopoly. As a pedagogical tool, the experiment introduces students to the nature of the monopoly problem and motivates them to think of the associated efficiency issues as a divergence between private...

Beliefs are a key motivator of individual behavior. As such, an understanding of how individuals’ beliefs develop is a prerequisite to understanding decision-making and behavior. While rational choice theory posits a Bayesian framework for belief formation, status construction theories argue...

Research in psychology indicates that individuals often make inferences regarding unknown individual qualities based on potentially irrelevant (but socially observable) information. This paper explores occupational choices when individuals receive imprecise signals regarding ability and use the...

We find an "inverse found money effect" in two-person public good experiments in which individuals earning their endowments contribute more and engage in "altruistic conditional cooperation" when they are matched with those whose endowment is provided by the experimenters.

We investigate the origins of identity and the innate proclivity to draw a distinction between `insiders' and `outsiders'. We propose an evolutionary explanation: we argue that identity arises because it facilitates survival. In an evolutionary setting we endogenize preferences and demonstrate...