Cognitive economics is a very new field of economics, and is focused on understanding how cognitive attributes, such as intelligence, cognitive flexibility, extroversion, and openness, effect economic behavior.  Evidence from a large scale survey conducted last fall has confirmed that cognitive attributes play a role in determining basic economic behavior.  We are attempting to collected additional data by designing and running experiments testing the relationships found in the survey. Our project specifically looks at how intelligence and cognitive flexibility change patience, risk-seeking, and behavioral elasticities.  We will be running experiments in the lab at the Institute for Social Research. The experiments will involve having subjects engage in a variety or purchasing and labor decisions under various payment schemes. This is an exciting opportunity to become involved in research with professional economists in an extremely new field, working on a project that should impact the way the profession thinks about economic theory and policy. 

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Student Tasks and Responsibilities:  Students will be involved at all levels of the research project.  They will have the opportunity to assist in designing the experimental protocols, help conduct experimental sessions, enter and manage data, and work on basic data analysis in STATA. It is not expected that students will have experience in any of these tasks, and so a large part of the project will involve learning the necessary skills from the project investigators.