Backstory: How Research Papers in Economics Get Made

Santiago speaks with Solène about her work titled "The Effect of AI Interviewers on Gender Gaps in Hiring: A field experiment in the Philippines" and co-authored with Brian Jabarian and Luca Henkel. Solène shares how the project began after reaching out to another economist whose presentation she had seen months earlier, leading to a fast-moving collaboration with results in just a few weeks. She reflects on how AI and online surveys have changed the way we conduct experiments, the barriers faced, as well as the questions we ask. She also shares her view on how she studies AI in the context of economics and management, so tune in to learn more!

Riccardo speaks with Jonathan Weigel about his paper, coauthored with Augustin Bergeron, Arthur Laroche, Joana Naritomi, Gabriel Tourek, and Marina Ngoma, titled: “Does Progressivity Raise Tax Capacity? Experimental Evidence from the D.R. Congo.”

Join us to hear how Jonathan got started on his research agenda in the DRC and what it takes to set up a research organization in the field, manage enumerators, and build relationships with government and tax officials. In the middle of a great conversation, there are also some hidden gems about challenges encountered in the field. Tune in to hear more!

Mikey speaks with Ebehi Iyoha of Harvard Business School about her working paper with Melko Dragojević and Stejpan Srhoj on spillover effects — the effect on firms when large grants were awarded to other firms in their supply chain — in Croatia. Ebehi goes into detail about they borrowed techniques from the study of networks and applied it to this setting in order to answer a novel question about how grant spending progogates through a network of firms.

Santiago speaks with Matt Lowe about “Psychedelics and Well-Being: An Experiment in Brazil,” coauthored with Patrick Francois and Ieda Matavelli. Matt takes us behind the scenes of the project: how the idea began, what it meant to study psychedelics as economists, and how the team navigated a topic that is making waves in other fields. He also reflects on the importance of building trust with an ayahuasca center, and how that relationship opened the door to a richer research design than the team initially imagined. Join us for the backstory behind this project!
The working paper version is available at: https://mattjlowe.github.io/files/Francois%20Lowe%20Matavelli%20(18dec25)%20Psychedelics.pdf

Maddison speaks with Patrick Agte of the Stockholm School of Economics about his working paper on the understaffing of India's public healthcare system, and how performance was dramatically improved by the adding a second healthcare worker to village clinics. They also discuss the benefits — and costs — of building relationships with government officials for conducting important research.
The paper is available here: https://patrickagte.github.io/patrickagte/agte_jmp.pdf