Scroll down for links to my working papers and publications.
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)
A Model of Challenge Funds: How Funding Availability and Selection Rigor Affect Project Quality with Raphael Boleslavsky and Bruce Carlin
The Gates Effect in Public Goods Experiments: How Donors Focus on the Recipients Favored by the Wealthy, with Luca Corazzini, Enrico Longo, and Tommaso Reggiani
Information and Advocacy Campaigns in Support of Girls’ Education Increase Math Performance and Enrolment with Ardyn Nordstrom, Jordan Nanowski, and Eric Richter
Impact of a Severe Drought on Education: More Schooling but Not More 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
Impact of high school employability and entrepreneurship training on the pursuit of higher education with Zuzanna Kurzawa and Frederic Tremblay
Determinants of community economic resilience to COVID-19 in Canada with Brett Crowley, Catriona Farquharson, Huw, Lloyd-Ellis, and Luke Rawling
Published & accepted articles
C. Li and C. Cotton, Profiling Restrictions in a Model of Law Enforcement and Strategic Crime, European Journal of Law & Economics, April 2023.
C. Cotton, B. Hickman, and J. Price, Affirmative action and human capital investment: Evidence from a randomized field experiment, Journal of Labor Economics, 40(1): 157-185, Jan 2022.
— previously NBER Working Paper 20397
–press: Quartz, FiveThirtyEight and Chronicle of Higher Education
C. Cotton, B. Crowley, B. Kashi, H. Lloyd-Ellis, and F. Tremblay, Quantifying the economic impacts of COVID-19 policy responses in (almost) real time, Canadian Journal of Economics, 54, July 2021
Z. Kurzawa, C. Cotton, N. Mazurkewich, A. Verney, J. Busch-Hallen, and B. Kashi, Training healthcare workers increases IFA use and adherence: Evidence and cost-effectiveness analysis from Bangladesh, Maternal & Child Nutrition, 17(2): e13124, 2021
L. Corazzini, C. Cotton, and T. Reggiani, Delegation and coordination with multiple threshold public goods: experimental evidence, Experimental Economics, 23: 1030-1068, Dec 2020
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)
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: 102091, 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
Christopher Cotton 