Associate Professor of Economics and Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Economics, University of Oregon
Faculty Affiliate - Center for Effective Global Action
Associate Editor - Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Education: Ph.D., Economics, UC San Diego, 2014.
Research Interests: Behavioral Economics, Public Economics, Labor Economics, Consumer Finance
Contact Information: mkuhn@uoregon.edu, 517 Prince Lucien Campbell Hall
I am an applied behavioral economist with an interest in applications to consumer finance, public economics and labor economics. I use a variety of methods —laboratory experiments, field experiments and observational data analysis— to study the importance of behavioral theory for economic policy, the determinants of preferences and preference-elicitation methodology.
published and accepted papers
“Behavioral Food Subsidies,” with Andy Brownback and Alex Imas. Review of Economics and Statistics, 2025. Funded: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Evidence for Action grant. [Journal Article][Paper + Appendix]
“Too Fast, Too Furious? Digital Credit Delivery Speed and Repayment Rates,” with Alfredo Burlando and Silvia Prina. Journal of Development Economics, 2025. Funded: Center for Effective Action Digital Credit Observatory grant. [Journal Article] [Paper + Appendix] [IZA Working Paper] [Media Coverage - VoxDev Talk] [Media Coverage - VoxDev]
“The Role of Credit Reports in Digital Lending: a Case Study from Mexico,” with Alfredo Burlando and Silvia Prina. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 2024. [Journal Article] [Paper]
“Waiting to Choose: The Role of Deliberation in Intertemporal Choice,” with Alex Imas and Vera Mironova. American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 2022. [Journal Article][Paper + Appendix]
“Electronic Benefit Transfer and Food Expenditure Cycles.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2021. [Journal Article][Paper + Appendix]
“Toward an Understanding of the Development of Time Preferences: Evidence from Field Experiments,” with James Andreoni, John List, Anya Samek, Kevin Sokal, and Charles Sprenger. Journal of Public Economics, 2019. [Journal Article] [Paper + Appendix] [NBER Working Paper]
“Understanding Outcome Bias,” with Andy Brownback. Games and Economic Behavior, 2019. [Journal Article] [Paper + Appendix]
“Building Rational Cooperation on Their Own: Learning to Start Small,” with James Andreoni and Larry Samuelson. Journal of Public Economic Theory, 2019. [Journal Article] [Paper + Appendix] [NBER Working Paper]
“Who Feels the Calorie Crunch and When? The Impact of School Meals on Cyclical Food Insecurity.” Journal of Public Economics, 2018. Funded: University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research grant. [Journal Article] [Paper + Appendix]
“Decision-Environment Effects on Intertemporal Financial Choices: How Relevant are Resource-depletion Models?” with Peter Kuhn and Marie Claire Villeval. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2017. [Journal Article] [Paper + Appendix]
“Measuring Time Preferences: A Comparison of Experimental Methods,” with James Andreoni and Charles Sprenger. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2015. [Journal Article] [Paper + Appendix] [NBER Working Paper] [Time Preference Estimation Kit]
“Experimental Methods: Extra-laboratory Experiments - Extending the Reach of Experimental Economics,” with Gary Charness and Uri Gneezy. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2013. [Journal Article] [Paper + Appendix]
“Experimental Methods: Between-subject and Within-subject Design,” with Gary Charness and Uri Gneezy. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2012. [Journal Article] [Paper + Appendix]
working papers and work in progress
“Time Preferences and Food Choice,” with Andy Brownback and Alex Imas. Revision requested, Journal of Public Economics. Funded: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Evidence for Action grant. [Paper + Appendix] [NBER Working Paper] [BFI Working Paper] [BFI Research Brief]
“Gender Differences in Choice of Educational Field: Evidence from the Danish National Clearinghouse,” with Anne Toft Hansen, Sally Sadoff, and Helene Willadsen. Under Review. [Paper + Appendix]
“Cheating and Self-confidence” with Nathan Adams and Glen Waddell. Under Review. [Paper + Appendix]
“Rehabilitating Delinquent Digital Borrowers,” with Alfredo Burlando, Silvia Prina, and Brock Wilson. Under Review. Funded: Center for Effective Action Digital Credit Observatory grant. [Paper + Appendix]
“When Does Past Trauma Matter for Present Decision-making? Evidence from a Field Study on Myopia and Waiting. Periods,” with Alex Imas and Vera Mironova. [Paper] [CEGA Working Paper]
“Arbitrage or Narrow Bracketing? Experimental Tests of Money as a Primary Reward,” with James Andreoni, Christina Gravert, Silvia Saccardo and Yang Yang. [Paper + Appendix] [NBER Working Paper]
“Is It Safe to Measure Risk Preferences? Assessing the Completeness, Predictive Validity, and Measurement Error of Various Techniques,” with James Andreoni. [Paper + Appendix]
“Time-varying Time Preferences,” with Steven Holloway and Connor Wiegand. [Paper + Appendix]
other work
“Eliciting Time Preferences,” in preparation for the Handbook of Experimental Methods in the Social Sciences, Alex Rees-Jones ed. [Paper]
“To Settle or Not to Settle: A Review of the Literature on Arbitration in the Laboratory,” expanded reference material for “Lab Labor: What Can Labor Economists Learn from the Lab?” Handbook of Labor Economics, Volume 4, Part A, 2011, Gary Charness and Peter Kuhn. [Paper]