The Why Axis—Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life. Why women continue to earn less than men, and other conundrums.
Event Details
Can economics be passionate? John List, chairman of the Department of Economics, answers this quintessential Chicago question along with many others. Using randomized experiments around the world, Professor List reveals ways to close the achievement gap between rich and poor students; stop the violence plaguing inner-city schools; decipher whether women really are less competitive than men; and the real reasons people discriminate.
What happens when smart female mathematicians and scientists compete against men? What seven words can end discrimination? Why do people give to charity? Why are women paid less than men?
John List is the Chairman and Homer J. Livingston Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, and a trailblazer in one of the greatest innovations in modern economics: running randomized economic experiments in the real world. His field experiments from the plains below Kilimanjaro, Africa, to the state of Meghalaya in northeast India, to Chicago Heights, demonstrate what really works in addressing big social, business, and economic problems, and which incentives best shape outcomes to match the underlying motives of people.