John List

Good job! She's smiling. Oh, that's great!

Good job! She's smiling. Oh, that's great!

Good job! She's smiling. Oh, that's great!

That's John List. He's an economist at the University of Chicago. They actually have to go and get the medicines, which a lot of people have a very hard time doing, even though it's sitting next to your bed every night. People don't take it. And they don't take it because they forget. They don't take it because the side effect is a lot worse than the benefit they think they're getting.

That's John List. He's an economist at the University of Chicago. They actually have to go and get the medicines, which a lot of people have a very hard time doing, even though it's sitting next to your bed every night. People don't take it. And they don't take it because they forget. They don't take it because the side effect is a lot worse than the benefit they think they're getting.

That's John List. He's an economist at the University of Chicago. They actually have to go and get the medicines, which a lot of people have a very hard time doing, even though it's sitting next to your bed every night. People don't take it. And they don't take it because they forget. They don't take it because the side effect is a lot worse than the benefit they think they're getting.

All of these types of problems, as humans, including myself, we do a really bad job in trying to solve.

All of these types of problems, as humans, including myself, we do a really bad job in trying to solve.

All of these types of problems, as humans, including myself, we do a really bad job in trying to solve.

If you turn back the clock to the 1990s, there was a credibility revolution in economics, focusing on what data and modeling assumptions are necessary to go from correlation to causality. List responded by running dozens and dozens of field experiments.

If you turn back the clock to the 1990s, there was a credibility revolution in economics, focusing on what data and modeling assumptions are necessary to go from correlation to causality. List responded by running dozens and dozens of field experiments.

If you turn back the clock to the 1990s, there was a credibility revolution in economics, focusing on what data and modeling assumptions are necessary to go from correlation to causality. List responded by running dozens and dozens of field experiments.

Now, my contribution in the credibility revolution was instead of working with secondary data, I actually went to the world and used the world as my lab and generated new data to test theories and estimate program effects.

Now, my contribution in the credibility revolution was instead of working with secondary data, I actually went to the world and used the world as my lab and generated new data to test theories and estimate program effects.

Now, my contribution in the credibility revolution was instead of working with secondary data, I actually went to the world and used the world as my lab and generated new data to test theories and estimate program effects.

I think moving our work into policymaking circles and having a very strong impact has just not been there. And I think one of the most important questions is, how are we going to make that natural progression of field experiments within the social sciences to more keenly talk to policymakers, the broader public, and actually the scientific community as a whole?

I think moving our work into policymaking circles and having a very strong impact has just not been there. And I think one of the most important questions is, how are we going to make that natural progression of field experiments within the social sciences to more keenly talk to policymakers, the broader public, and actually the scientific community as a whole?

I think moving our work into policymaking circles and having a very strong impact has just not been there. And I think one of the most important questions is, how are we going to make that natural progression of field experiments within the social sciences to more keenly talk to policymakers, the broader public, and actually the scientific community as a whole?

In a past life, I worked in the White House advising the president on environmental and resource issues within economics.

In a past life, I worked in the White House advising the president on environmental and resource issues within economics.