Jason Somerville
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Economics, Cornell University
About Me
I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Economics at Cornell University. I am on the job market in Fall 2019 and will be available for interviews at the European Job Market in Rotterdam and at the 2020 ASSA Annual Meeting in San Diego.
My research applies concepts from behavioral economics to a broad set of topics. In my job market paper, I investigate whether the composition of a choice set alters how individuals trade off price versus quality. I derive distinguishing predictions of several leading models of choice-set-dependent preferences and use these results to guide a novel experimental design. I provide the first structural estimates of choice-set dependent preferences in consumer choice and explore heterogeneity across individuals.
More broadly, I am interested in applying behavioural economics in a number of domains, and in studying policy issues raised by behavioral economics. One project explores how the timing of the SNAP recertification process can have large welfare implications; another examines both individual and firm responses to tobacco regulations. A separate strand of my research studies how asymmetric information and non-standard preferences can shape market structures: for example, showing that fairness concerns can act as a constraint on exchange, or examining how selection into private health insurance markets can be affected by the provision of universal public healthcare.
Prior to my work as a PhD student, I worked as a Research Analyst at Morgan Stanley in London. I was born and raised in Ireland, and received my M.Litt, M.Sc. and B.A. degrees from Trinity College Dublin.
Contact