Research

Working papers  

Commitment and randomization in communication
(with Xiao Lin)
last updated: October 2024

What is newsworthy? Theory and evidence
(with Luis Armona, Matthew Gentzkow, and Jesse Shapiro)
last updated: May 2024

Published and forthcoming papers 

Representing type spaces as signal allocations
(with Ben Brooks and Alex Frankel)
Economic Theory Bulletin, forthcoming

Comparisons of signals
(with Ben Brooks and Alex Frankel)
American Economic Review
Vol. 114, No. 9, September 2024, pp. 2981-3006

Coming apart? Cultural distances in the United States over time
(with Marianne Bertrand)
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Vol. 15, No. 4, October 2023, pp. 100-141

Information hierarchies
(with Ben Brooks and Alex Frankel)
Econometrica
Vol. 90, No. 5, September 2022, pp. 2187-2214

Relational incentives theory 
(with Jana Gallus, Joseph Reiff, and Alan Page Fiske)
Psychological Review
Vol. 129, No. 3, April 2022, pp. 586-602

Bayesian persuasion and information design: Perspectives and open issues
Introduction to the Special Issue on Communication and Persuasion 
(with Kyungmin Kim and Andriy Zapechelnyuk)
Economic Theory
Vol. 72, October 2021, pp. 701-704

Quantifying information and uncertainty
(with Alex Frankel)
American Economic Review
Vol. 109, No. 10, October 2019, pp. 3650-3680

Bayesian persuasion and information design
Annual Review of Economics
Vol. 11, August 2019, pp. 249-272 

Peer effects in legislative voting
(with Nik Harmon and Ray Fisman)
online appendix
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Vol. 11, No. 4, October 2019, pp. 156-180

Reducing congestion through information design
(with Sanmay Das and Renee Mirka)
Proceedings of the 55th Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing

2017, pp. 1279-1284

Information economics
essay in “The past, present, and future of Economics: A celebration of the 125 year anniversary of the JPE and of Chicago Economics”
John List and Harald Uhlig, eds.
Journal of Political Economy
Vol. 125(6), December 2017, pp. 1885-1890

Bayesian persuasion with multiple senders and rich signal spaces
(with Matthew Gentzkow)
Games and Economic Behavior
Vol. 104, July 2017, pp. 411-429

Competition in persuasion
(with Matthew Gentzkow)
Review of Economic Studies
Vol. 84(1), January 2017, pp. 300-322

Disclosure of endogenous information
(with Matthew Gentzkow)
Economic Theory Bulletin
Vol. 5(1), March 2017, pp. 47-56

A Rothschild-Stiglitz approach to Bayesian persuasion
(with Matthew Gentzkow)
American Economic Review, Papers & Proceedings
Vol. 106(5), May 2016, pp. 597-601

Representations of information structures
(with Sanmay Das)
Proceedings of the 53rd Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing

2015, pp. 737-743

Labor supply of politicians
(with Ray FismanNik Harmon, and Inger Munk)
Journal of the European Economic Association
Vol. 13(5), October 2015, pp. 871-905

Gender identity and relative income within households
(with Marianne Bertrand and Jessica Pan)
online appendix
Quarterly Journal of Economics
Vol. 130(2), May 2015, pp. 571-614

Suspense and surprise
(with Jeff Ely and Alex Frankel)
online appendix
Journal of Political Economy
Vol. 103(1), February 2015, pp. 215-260

Costly persuasion
(with Matthew Gentzkow)
American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings
Vol. 104(5), May 2014, pp. 457-462

Voters, dictators, and peons: Expressive voting and pivotality
(with Louisa Egan Brad)
Public Choice
Vol. 159(1-2), April 2014, pp. 159-176

Advertisements impact the physiological efficacy of a branded drug
(with Anup Malani and Robert Naclerio)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Vol. 110(32), August 2013, pp. 12931-12935

Information and subsidies: Complements or substitutes?
(with Nava Ashraf and Kelsey Jack)
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Vol. 88, April 2013, pp. 133-139

Behavioral economics and psychology of incentives
Annual Review of Economics
Vol. 4, 2012, pp. 427-452

Bayesian persuasion
(with Matthew Gentzkow)
online appendix
American Economic Review

Vol. 101(6), October 2011, pp. 2590-2615

Helping consumers know themselves
(with Sendhil Mullainathan and Richard Thaler)
American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings
Vol. 101(3), May 2011, pp. 417-422

Choice proliferation, simplicity seeking, and asset allocation
(with Sheena Iyengar)
Journal of Public Economics
Vol. 94(7-8), August 2010, pp. 530-539

Contextual inference in markets: On the informational content of product lines
American Economic Review
Vol. 98(5), December 2008, pp. 2127–2149
for an older version with endogenous prices, click here

Man's search for meaning: The case of Legos
(with Dan Ariely and Dražen Prelec)
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Vol. 67(3), September 2008, pp. 671-677

Racial preferences in dating
(with Ray Fisman, Sheena Iyengar, and Itamar Simonson)
Review of Economic Studies
Vol. 75(1), January 2008, pp. 117-132

Gender differences in mate selection: Evidence from a speed dating experiment
(with Ray Fisman, Sheena Iyengar, and Itamar Simonson)
Quarterly Journal of Economics

Vol. 121(2), May 2006, pp. 673-697

Two-sided bandits and the dating market
(with Sanmay Das)
Proceedings of the Nineteenth International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence

August 2005, pp. 947-952

Letters, book reviews, speeches, etc.

The economics of suspense
The New York Times, April 24, 2015

Commencement address
Shepherd University
May 2014

Review of Beauty Pays by Daniel Hamermesh
Journal of Economic Literature
Vol. 50(2), June 2012 , pp. 521-523

On gorgeous computer programmers
The Economist. January 10, 2008
Response to Beauty and success: To those that have, shall be given

On housing prices and wealth
The New Yorker. June 5, 2006
Response to Through the roof, by James Surowiecki