Articles

Articles About My Work:

 

Thanksgiving Got Shorter After the 2016 Election, Study Says. You Can Guess Why.
The New York Times, May 31st, 2018

Thanksgiving Dinner Can End Sooner If Guests Pass the Gravy across a Partisan Divide
Scientific American, June 1st, 2018

 

Trump's election and political ads shortened 2016 Thanksgiving dinners, researchers say
The Washington Post, May 31st, 2018

On Thanksgiving, partisan politics cost Americans nearly 74 million hours with family and friends
Los Angeles Times, May 31st, 2018

 

Smartphone tracking data reveals that the 2016 election season spoiled Thanksgiving
PBS News Hour, May 31st, 2018

Did Trump ruin Thanksgiving? Study shows 2016 election split families
NBC News, May 31st, 2018

Trump election shortens US Thanksgiving family dinners
BBC News, June 1st, 2018

 

Politics Really is Ruining Thanksgiving
The Washington Post, November 15th, 2017

How Donald Trump Ruined Thanksgiving
Politico Magazine, November 23rd, 2017
Synopsis:
A new study finds that after last year's scorched-earth presidential campaign, Americans could barely stand to look each other in the eye...

 

Hidden Brain: This is Your Brain on Uber
National Public Radio, Hidden Brain Podcast, May 17th, 2016
Synopsis:
Uber is built on the scourge of surge... What's the psychology behind it? Shankar sits down with Uber's Head of Economic Research Keith Chen to talk about when we're most likely pay for surge, when we hate it the most, and why monkeys would probably act and feel the same way...

 

Can Your Language Influence Your Spending, Eating, and Smoking Habits?
The Atlantic, September 10th, 2013
Synopsis:
Yes, I know. That headline. It looks like the most egregious form of causal inference. Americans don't save money because of ... our grammar? How utterly absurd. But bear with me....

 

How Your Language Affects Your Wealth and Health
Scientific American, March 19th, 2013
Synopsis:
An international study suggests languages shape how we think about the future, and how we plan for it...

 

Could Your Language Affect Your Ability to Save Money?
TED, Feb 2013
Synopsis:
What can economists learn from linguists? Behavioral economist Keith Chen introduces a fascinating pattern from his research...

 

Economics: Marshmallows and Rösti(graben)
Science, January 4th, 2013
Synopsis:
Does the language we speak influence how we think? Chen adds to the lengthy and continuing discussion of this question by linking language to future-oriented behaviors...

  Is Medical School a Worthwhile Investment for Women?
The Atlantic, July 23rd, 2012
Synopsis:
The average female primary-care physician would have been financially better off becoming a physician assistant...
  Obese? Smoker? No Retirement Savings? Perhaps It's Because of the Language You Speak
Big Think, Febuary 5th, 2012
Synopsis:
Why can't the Greeks be more like the Germans? Could it be because they speak Greek?...
  Speaking and Saving
Yale Alumni Magazine, January/February, 2012
Synopsis:
Want to end the various global debt crises? Try abandoning English, Greek, and Italian in favor of German, Finnish, and Korean. “People whose languages force them to speak differently about the future than the present tend to save less,” says behavioral economist Keith Chen, an associate professor at the School of Management...
  The Agenda: NRO's Domestic Policy Blog
The National Review Online, September 9th, 2011
Synopsis:
Reihan Salam discusses new research by Keith Chen and Judy Chevalier on female labor force participation...
  And Behind Door No. 1, a Fatal Flaw
The New York Times, April 8th, 2008
Synopsis:
The Monty Hall Problem has struck again, and this time it's not merely embarrassing mathematicians. If the calculations of a Yale economist are correct, there’s a sneaky logical fallacy in some of the most famous experiments in psychology...
  Prison Conditions: Gently Does it
The Economist, July 26th, 2007
Click to see the text.
Synopsis:
Excessively harsh conditions seem to make criminals more likely to re-offend. Are private prisons the answer?... Two studies draw contrary conclusions.
  Monkey Business: Can Capuchins Understand Money?
by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt for The New York Times Magazine, June 5th, 2005
Click to see a scan, or just the text.
Synopsis:
In a clean and spacious laboratory at Yale-New Haven Hospital, seven capuchin monkeys have been taught to use money, and a comparison of capuchin behavior and human behavior will either surprise you very much or not at all, depending on your view of humans...
  Simian Economics: Monkeys Show the Same "Irrational" Aversion to Risks as Humans
The Economist, June 25th, 2005
Click to see a scan, or just the text.
Synopsis:
Economists often like to speak of Homo economicus—rational economic man. In practice, human economic behaviour is not quite as rational as the relentless logic of theoretical economics suggests it ought to be...
  Money and Monkey Business
by Mark Buchanan for The New Scientist, Nov 5th, 2005
Click to see a scan, or just the text.
Synopsis:
When it comes to money, it turns out we're no more rational than our primate cousins. But knowing this could pay dividends...
  Humans Ape Monkey Market Decisions
by Heather Claborn for WNPR: Connecticut Public Radio, July 12th, 2005
Click to listen as an MP3.

Betting on the Futures of Politics
The Washington Post, October, 2008
Synopsis:
Prediction Markets Can Be Powerful -- and Often Profitable....

The Endowment Effect: It's Mine, I Tell You
The Economist, June, 2008
Synopsis:
Mankind’s inner chimpanzee refuses to let go. This matters to everything from economics to law....

Why People Believe Weird Things About Money
The Los Angeles Times, January, 2008
Synopsis:
Evolution accounts for a lot of our strange ideas about finances....

Criminal Justice: Revolving Cell Door
The Atlantic Monthly, March, 2007
Synopsis:
Hard time is supposed to be hard. But a new study says harsher prison conditions also make criminals measurably more likely to offend again....

Maybe It's Time to Get Soft on Crime
The Washington Post, February 2nd, 2006
Synopsis:
That's because many criminals are more likely to go astray once they get out of prison if they faced longer sentences and more punitive conditions in the slammer, claim economists M. Keith Chen of Yale University and Jesse M. Shapiro of the University of Chicago...

Verhaltensforschung: Affen als Kleinsparer
Der Spiegel, June 27th, 2005
Synopsis:
Menschen entscheiden sich eher gegen mögliche Verluste als für verlockende Gewinne...

Study: Monkeys Ape Humans' Economic Traits
by Jacqueline Weaver for The Yale Bulletin, July 2005
Synopsis:
Scientists have learned that capuchin monkeys who are given "money" to trade for rewards make the same, sometimes faulty, economic decisions as humans do...

A Profile of Professor Keith Chen
by Corey Lomas for The Yale Economic Review, Spring 2005
Synopsis:
Keith Chen, Assistant Professor of Economics at the Yale School of Management, chats with the Yale Economic Review about Yale, prison sentencing, and his latest work with monkeys...