David Gill

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I am the James Brooke Henderson Professor in the Department of Economics at the Daniels School of Business (formerly the Krannert School of Management).

I am an applied microeconomist who uses experiments and game theory to understand human behavior.

To visit the Vernon Smith Experimental Economics Laboratory, click here.

For more information, click on the tabs to see my research papers and CV.

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C.V.

How cognitive skills affect strategic behavior: Cognitive ability, fluid intelligence and judgment (with Zachary Knepper, Victoria Prowse and Junya Zhou)
Games and Economic Behavior, 149: 82-95, 2025. DOI Working Paper

Beliefs, learning, and personality in the indefinitely repeated prisoner's dilemma (with Yaroslav Rosokha)
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 16(3): 259-283, 2024. DOI Working Paper

The creativity premium: Exploring the link between childhood creativity and life outcomes (with Victoria Prowse)
Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics, 2(3): 495-526, 2024. DOI Working Paper

Strategic complexity and the value of thinking (with Victoria Prowse)
Economic Journal, 133(650), 761-786, 2023. DOI Working Paper

Cognitive skills, strategic sophistication, and life outcomes (with Eduardo Fe and Victoria Prowse)
Journal of Political Economy, 130(10), 2643-2704, 2022. DOI Working Paper

Using goals to motivate college students: Theory and evidence from field experiments (with Damon Clark, Mark Rush and Victoria Prowse)
Review of Economics and Statistics, 102(4), 648-663, 2020. DOI Working Paper

First-place loving and last-place loathing: How rank in the distribution of performance affects effort provision (with Zdenka Kissova, Jaesun Lee and Victoria Prowse)
Management Science, 65(2), 494-507, 2019. DOI Working Paper

Measuring costly effort using the slider task (with Victoria Prowse)
Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 21, 1-9, 2019. DOI Working Paper Web Appendix z-Tree code

Cognitive ability, character skills, and learning to play equilibrium: A level-k analysis (with Victoria Prowse)
Journal of Political Economy, 126(4), 1619-1676, 2016. Paper Web Appendix

Competition in posted prices with stochastic discounts (with John Thanassoulis)
Economic Journal, 126(594), 1528-1570, 2016. DOI Working Paper

Desert and inequity aversion in teams (with Rebecca Stone)
Journal of Public Economics, 123, 42-54, 2015. DOI Working paper

Gender differences and dynamics in competition: The role of luck (with Victoria Prowse)
Quantitative Economics, 5(2), 351-376, 2014. Paper

Cheating in the workplace: An experimental study of the impact of bonuses and productivity (with Victoria Prowse and Michael Vlassopoulos)
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 96, 120-134, 2013. DOI Working paper

A structural analysis of disappointment aversion in a real effort competition (with Victoria Prowse)
American Economic Review, 102(1), 469-503, 2012. Paper Web Appendix

The optimal choice of pre-launch reviewer (with Daniel Sgroi)
Journal of Economic Theory, 147(3), 1247-1260, 2012. DOI Working paper

Fairness and desert in tournaments (with Rebecca Stone)
Games and Economic Behavior, 69(2), 346-364, 2010. DOI Working paper

The impact of bargaining on markets with price takers: Too many bargainers spoil the broth (with John Thanassoulis)
European Economic Review, 53(6), 658-674, 2009. DOI Working paper

Sequential decisions with tests (with Daniel Sgroi)
Games and Economic Behavior, 63(2), 663-678, 2008. DOI Working paper

Strategic disclosure of intermediate research results
Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 17(3), 733-758, 2008. DOI Working paper

Soft money and hard choices: Why political parties might legislate against soft money donations (with Christine Lipsmeyer)
Public Choice, 123(3-4), 411-438, 2005. DOI Working paper

Sequential decision-making and asymmetric equilibria: An application to takeovers (with Daniel Sgroi)
B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, 4(1) Topics, Art. 11, 2004. DOI Working Paper

Dynamic investment in teamwork skill: Theory and experimental evidence (with Victoria Prowse and Lucas Reddinger)
Working Paper

Identifying level-k reasoning in repeated games: Strategies, beliefs, and cognitive ability (with Yaroslav Rosokha)
Working Paper

Email: gill53@purdue.edu
Cell: 765-412-4802

Rawls 4023
Daniels School of Business
403 W. State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA