The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) serves as a hub for cutting-edge analysis and research across the entire University of Chicago economics community, uniting researchers from the Booth School of Business, the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics, the...
Inspired by our namesakes, Nobel Laureates Gary Becker and Milton Friedman, who believed that economics research could help improve the world, BFI works with the Chicago Economics community to turn its evidence-based research into real-world impact.
The Predoctoral Research in Economics Program (PREP) is intended to serve as a bridge between college and graduate school for students interested in empirical economics. The program offers unique research and professional training opportunities at the University of Chicago.
Expanding Discovery in Economics+ (EDE+) brings together a diverse group of early undergraduate students to hone their research abilities and technical skills.
College-educated mothers invest more time in children’s learning than non-college-educated mothers, yet they report substantially lower enjoyment of those same activities. Using purpose-built survey data from 1,552 mothers of kindergarteners in Chicago Public Schools — the first dataset to measure...
In plausibly calibrated heterogeneous-agent models, marginal propensities to consume (MPCs) are highly non-linear in wealth, falling sharply away from borrowing constraints. As a result, the aggregate consumption response to a fiscal transfer is strongly concave in its size: larger transfers...
Julie Pernaudet, John List, Arnoldo Müller-Molina, Majid Ahmadi, Imrul Huda, Ajay Sailopal, and Dana Suskind
Parents play a critical role in shaping children’s skills during the first years of life. Yet, identifying the contributors to richer learning environments remains difficult due to various unobservable factors. In this paper, we combine field experiments with AI to...
Captivating and informative videos on the latest insights and trends as well as the tested stock of knowledge in economics from leaders in academia, policy, business, and the media.
We consider the welfare consequences of nudges to encourage exercise habit formation. We analyze a randomized trial of nudged exercise commitment contracts using a time-inconsistent intertemporal utility maximization model of the demand for exercise. Our empirical analysis shows that people who are interested in exercise commitment contracts choose longer contracts when nudged to do so, are then more likely to meet their pre-stated exercise goals, and to sign subsequent contracts. Our theoretical analysis of the welfare implications of these effects shows conditions under which nudges can reduce utility even when they succeed in the goal of promoting habitual exercise.
The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) serves as a hub for cutting-edge analysis and research across the entire University of Chicago economics community, uniting researchers from the Booth School of Business, the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics, the...
Inspired by our namesakes, Nobel Laureates Gary Becker and Milton Friedman, who believed that economics research could help improve the world, BFI works with the Chicago Economics community to turn its evidence-based research into real-world impact.
The Predoctoral Research in Economics Program (PREP) is intended to serve as a bridge between college and graduate school for students interested in empirical economics. The program offers unique research and professional training opportunities at the University of Chicago.
Expanding Discovery in Economics+ (EDE+) brings together a diverse group of early undergraduate students to hone their research abilities and technical skills.
College-educated mothers invest more time in children’s learning than non-college-educated mothers, yet they report substantially lower enjoyment of those same activities. Using purpose-built survey data from 1,552 mothers of kindergarteners in Chicago Public Schools — the first dataset to measure...
In plausibly calibrated heterogeneous-agent models, marginal propensities to consume (MPCs) are highly non-linear in wealth, falling sharply away from borrowing constraints. As a result, the aggregate consumption response to a fiscal transfer is strongly concave in its size: larger transfers...
Julie Pernaudet, John List, Arnoldo Müller-Molina, Majid Ahmadi, Imrul Huda, Ajay Sailopal, and Dana Suskind
Parents play a critical role in shaping children’s skills during the first years of life. Yet, identifying the contributors to richer learning environments remains difficult due to various unobservable factors. In this paper, we combine field experiments with AI to...
Captivating and informative videos on the latest insights and trends as well as the tested stock of knowledge in economics from leaders in academia, policy, business, and the media.
