Scroll down for links to my working papers and publications. For descriptions of some of my major ongoing research projects, please click here.
Submissions, revisions & working papers
Productivity Versus Motivation in Adolescent Human Capital Production: Evidence from a Structurally-Motivated Field Experiment with Brent Hickman, John List, Joseph Price and Sutanuka Roy (NBER w27995, QED WP 1444)
Quantifying the economic impacts of COVID-19 policy responses in (almost) real time with Brett Crowley, Bahman Kashi, Huw Lloyd-Ellis, and Frederic Tremblay
Improving girls education outcomes through community-wide information and empowerment campaigns with Jordan Nanowski, Ardyn Nordstrom and Eric Richter
Impact of a Severe Drought on Education: More Schooling but Less Learning, with Ardyn Nordstrom
Affirmative action, shifting competition, and human capital accumulation: A comparative static analysis of investment contests, with Brent Hickman and Joseph Price
Disincentive effects of evaluation with Raphael Boleslavsky and Bruce Carlin
Polarized Education Levels and Civil Unrest with G. Canavire-Bacarreza, M. Jetter, and A. Montoya Agudelo
Competing for Capital: Auditing and Credibility in Financial Reporting, with Raphael Boleslavsky and Bruce Carlin, NBER working paper 23273
The importance of health provider training for the success of a prenatal supplement program in Bangladesh with Zuzanna Kurzawa, Natasha Mazurkewich, Allison Verney, Jennifer Busch-Hallen, and Bahman Kashi
Impact of high school employability and entrepreneurship training on the pursuit of higher education with Zuzanna Kurzawa and Frederic Tremblay
Published & accepted articles
C. Cotton, B. Hickman and J. Price, Affirmative action and human capital investment: Evidence from a randomized field experiment, Journal of Labor Economics, accepted 2020
— previously NBER Working Paper 20397
–press: Quartz, FiveThirtyEight and Chronicle of Higher Education
M. Agranov, C. Cotton and C. Tergiman, Persistence of Power: Repeated multilateral bargaining with endogenous agenda setting authority, Journal of Public Economics, 184, 104126, April 2020 (lead article)
L. Corazzini, C. Cotton and T. Reggiani, Delegation and coordination with multiple threshold public goods: experimental evidence, forthcoming at Experimental Economics
C. Cotton, F. McIntyre, A. Nordstrom and J. Price, Correcting for bias in hot-hand analysis: An application to youth golf, Journal of Economic Psychology, 75b: 1-10, 2019.
C. Cotton and C. Li, Clueless Politicians: On Policymaker Incentives for Information Acquisition in a Model of Lobbying, Journal of Law, Economics & Organization, 34: 425–456, 2018.
R. Boleslavsky and C. Cotton, Limited capacity in project selection: Competition through evidence production, Economic Theory, 65: 385-421, 2018.
R. Boleslavsky, C. Cotton and H. Gurnani, Demonstrations and price competition in new product release, Management Science, 63: 2016-2026, 2017.
C. Cotton and A. Dellis, Informational lobbying and agenda distortion, Journal of Law, Economics & Organization, 32: 762-793, 2016
–summary at Economics and Policy
C. Cotton, Competing for attention: Lobbying time-constrained politicians, Journal of Public Economic Theory, 18: 642–665, 2016
L. Corazzini, C. Cotton and P. Valbonesi, Donor coordination in project funding: Evidence from a threshold public goods experiment, Journal of Public Economics, 128: 16-29, 2015
R. Boleslavsky and C. Cotton, Grading standards and education quality, American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 7: 248-279, 2015
–press: AEA Research Highlight, VoxEU
R. Boleslavsky and C. Cotton, Information and extremism in elections, American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 7:165-207, 2015
–press: Washington Post, International Business Times, Inverse, PsychCentral, Milenio, Discovery News
C. Cotton, C. Li, F. McIntyre and J. Price, Which explanations for gender differences in competition are consistent with a simple theoretical model?, Journal of Behavioral & Experimental Economics, 59: 56-67, 2015
S. Campos, C. Cotton and C. Li, Deterrence effects under Twombly: On the costs of increasing pleading standards in litigation, International Review of Law and Economics, 44: 61-71, 2015
C. Cotton and C. Li, Profiling, screening and criminal recruitment, Journal of Public Economic Theory, 17: 964-985, 2015
C. Cotton, Submission fees and response times in academic publishing, American Economic Review, 103(1): 501-09, 2013
C. Cotton, F. McIntyre and J. Price, Gender differences in repeated competition: Evidence from school math contests, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 86: 52-66, 2013
–previously NBER working paper 16436, press: VoxEU, Forbes, Huffington Post
C. Cotton, Pay to play politics: Informational lobbying and contribution limits when money buys access, Journal of Public Economics, 96: 369-386, 2012
C. Cotton and C. Liu, 100 horsemen and the empty city: A game theoretic exploration of deception in Chinese military legend, Journal of Peace Research, 48(2): 217-223, 2011
–press: U.S. News & World Report
C. Cotton, Should we tax or cap political contributions? A lobbying model with policy favors and access, Journal of Public Economics, 93: 831-842, 2009 (lead article)
C. Cotton, Multiple bidding in auctions as bidders become confident of their private valuations, Economics Letters, 104(3): 148-150, 2009
