My research interests are in consumer decision making and lie at the intersection of economics and finance. My work is motivated by behavioural insights and policy questions and strives to understand how and why consumers make financial choices.
I use a portfolio of methodological approaches to yield credible answers into causal mechanisms, including micro-econometrics, machine learning and experimental methods. In particular, I study how consumer preferences and behavioural biases affect choices and behaviour in field data, surveys and laboratory studies.
Working Papers
Relative rank and life satisfaction: evidence from US households (with Gordon Brown & John Gathergood). Submitted.
Journal Publications
How Do Consumers Avoid Penalty Fees? Evidence From Credit Cards (with John Gathergood, Hiroaki Sakaguchi & Neil Stewart). Management Science, accepted.
How Do Americans Repay Their Debt? The Balance-Matching Heuristic (with John Gathergood, Neale Mahoney & Neil Stewart). Economics Bulletin, 39(2), 2019, pp. 1458-1466. [download accepted version]
- Press coverage: Chicago Booth Review.
How Do Individuals Repay Their Debt? The Balance-Matching Heuristic (with John Gathergood, Neale Mahoney & Neil Stewart). American Economic Review, 109(3), 2019, pp. 844-875. [download accepted version]
- Coverage in NBER Digest, February 2018 issue.
- Press coverage: The Washington Post; Bloomberg; The National; Quartz; Chicago Booth Review; CNBC; Wise Bread; NBC; The Western Australian; Kiplinger.
Financial Literacy: A Barrier to Home Ownership for the Young? (with J. Gathergood). Journal of Urban Economics, 99, 2017, pp. 62-78. [download accepted version]
Financial Literacy, Present Bias and Alternative Mortgage Products (with J.Gathergood). Journal of Banking & Finance, 78, 2017, pp. 58-83. [download accepted version]
- Press coverage: Financial Times; This is Money/Daily Mail.
Credit counseling: a substitute for consumer financial literacy? (with R. Disney & J. Gathergood). Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, 14(4), 2015, pp. 466-491. [download accepted version]
- Press coverage: Financial Times.
Self-Control, Financial Literacy & the Co-Holding Puzzle (with J. Gathergood). Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 107 (Part B), 2014, pp 455–469. [download accepted version]
Manuscripts in Preparation
A horse race between elicitation methods of Prospect Theory (with Orestis Kopsacheilis and Dennie van Dolder)
Too much choice? An experimental investigation (with Chris Starmer & Robin Cubitt).
Simplicity seeking: Attitude to risk, not choice overload, predicts behaviour.
The certainty effect outside pairwise choice experiments (with Jonathan Schulz)