Associate Professor of Economics
Education
Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, Economics (2015)
Areas of Expertise
- Behavioral economics
- Applied microeconomics
- Experimental economics
- Judgment and decision-making
Courses
ECON 233 LEC
Behavioral Economics and Public Policy (not offered 2022/23)ECON 476 SEM
Behavioral Economics: Theory and Methods (not offered 2022/23)Publications
1. Chao M, Larkin I. Regulating conflicts of interest through public disclosure and social image incentives: Evidence from a physician payments sunshine law. Management Science 2022; 68(2): 1078-1094.
2. Chao M, Fisher G. Self-interested giving: The relationship between conditional gifts, donor self-interestedness, and charitable donations. Management Science 2022; 68(6): 3975-4753.
3. Chao M, Chapman J. Saving face through preference signaling and obligation avoidance. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 2020; 176: 569-581.
4. Chao M. Intentions-based reciprocity to monetary and non-monetary gifts. Games 2018; 9, 74 (Special issue on dictator games).
5. Chao M. Demotivating incentives and motivation crowding out in charitable giving. PNAS 2017; 114(28):7301-7306.
6. Larkin I, Ang D, Steinhart J, Chao M, Patterson M, Sah S, Wu T, Schoenbaum M, Hutchins D, Brennan T, Loewenstein G. Association between academic medical center pharmaceutical detailing policies and physician prescribing. JAMA 2017; 3017(17):1785-95.
Selected press coverage: NPR, Slate, Newsweek, USNews, Boston Globe, Williams Magazine
Experimental datasets for published papers.
Working Papers
1. Chao M, Larkin I. Why do goal-based incentives cause cheating? Unpacking the confounding effects of goals, social comparisons, and pay.
2. Chao M, Shin E. Cooperation, coordination, and reciprocity in cultures with age-based social hierarchies.
3. Chao M, Fisher G. How Decision Conflict and Attribute Timing Influence Charitable Giving. Under Review.
On Campus Experiments
Williams students can click here to register as a participant in (paid) economics experiments held either on campus or online.
Megamenu Social