Jonathan F Schulz

Assistant Professor

Cultural Evolution, Economic History, Experimental and Behavioral Economics

My research interest lies in cultural evolution. I draw on insights from economic history, experimental economics, and development economics. I am particularly interested in the co-evolution of informal and formal institutions and in the internalization of social norms.

Selected Publications

Strategic Competition and Self-confidence (2023). Management Science (with S. Brilion, S. Grassi, and M. Grieder)

Social Norms and Dishonesty across Societies (2022). PNAS (with Diego Aycinena, Lucas Rentschler and Ben Beranek)

Kin Networks and Institutional Development (2022). Economic Journal. Winner of the Royal Economic Society Price 2022.

The Church, intensive kinship, and global psychological variation (2019). Science, 366, 6466 (with D. Bahrami-Rad, J. Beauchamp, & J. Henrich)

The Moral Machine Experiment (2018). Nature, 563, 59-64 (with E. Awad, S. Dsouza, R. Kim, J. Henrich, A. Shariff, J.-F. Bonnefon, & I. Rahwan)

Intrinsic Honesty and the Prevalence of Rule Violations across Societies (2016). Nature, 531, 496‑499 (with S. Gächter)

Affect and Fairness: Dictator Games under Cognitive Load (2014). Journal of Economic Psychology 41, 77-87 (with U. Fischbacher, C. Thöni, & V. Utikal)

Expanded Publication List

Working papers

Surname Diversity, Social Ties, and Innovation (2023) with Max Posch and Jospeh Henrich.

Kin-based Institutions and Economic Development (2022) with Duman Bahrami-Rad, Jonathan Beauchamp, and Joseph Henrich.

Peer reviewed

The behavioral mechanisms of voluntary cooperation across culturally diverse societies: Evidence from the US, the UK, Morocco, and Turkey (accepted) with T. Weber, B. Beranek, S. Gächter and F. Lambarraa-Lehnhard.

Strategic Competition and Self-confidence (accepted). Management Science (with S. Brilion, S. Grassi, and M. Grieder)

Social Norms and Dishonesty across Societies (2022). PNAS (with Diego Aycinena, Lucas Rentschler and Ben Beranek)

Kin networks and institutional development (2022). Economic Journal. Replication Data: click here; (Ungated) pre-print: click here

Selection into experiments: New evidence on the role of preferences, cognition, and recruitment protocols (2022). Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (with P. Thiemann, U. Sunde, and C. Thoeni).

Reply to: Life and death decisions of autonomous vehicles (2020). Nature, 579, E3–E5 (with A. Edmond, S. Dsouza, R. Kim, J. Henrich, A. Shariff, J. Bonnefon, and I. Rahwan).

The Church, intensive kinship, and global psychological variation (2019) Science, 366 (6466) (with D. Bahrami-Rad, J. Beauchamp and J. Henrich). Selected Media: Washington Post, Washington Post Opinion, Newsweek, The Economist, New York Times, Telegraph, NPR, Scientific American, Science Magazine, Science Podcast, FAZ I, FAZ II, NZZ, Focus, Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Time Replication Data: click here

Time pressure increases honesty in a sender-receiver deception game (2019). Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics 79, 93-99 (with V. Capraro and D. Rand).

The moral machine experiment. (2018). Nature, 563, 59-64, (with A. Edmond, S. Dsouza, R. Kim, J. Henrich, A. Shariff, J. Bonnefon, and I. Rahwan). Selected Media: The Economist, Washington Post, The New Yorker, BBC, The Guardian, Scientific America, WIRED, Spiegel, Le Monde

Nudging generosity: choice architecture and cognitive factors in charitable giving (2018). Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 74, 139-145, (with P. Thiemann and C. Thöni). Media: Third Sector

Intrinsic honesty and the prevalence of rule violations across societies (2016). Nature, 531, 496-499, (with S. Gächter). Selected Media: The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Science Magazine, Observer, Ars Technica, Spiegel. News and Views by Shaul Shalvi.

Overconfidence and career choice (2015). PLoS ONE, 11(1), e0145126, (with C. Thöni). Selected Media: The Independent, Real Clear Science, Vocativ, Bustle, The Boar, Mother Jones

Affect and fairness: Dictator games under cognitive load (2014). Journal of Economic Psychology, 41, 77-87, (with U. Fischbacher, C. Thöni and V. Utikal).

Grants and Fellowships

Royal Economic Society Price for Best Paper 'Kin networks and institutional development' published in The Economic Journal

Emergent Venture Fellow

“Institutional legacy and interventions for cultural change: the role of pre-existing conditions for public policies effectiveness”, Cultural Evolution Society Transformation Grant, 2022 (£100K, CO-I with Macro Fabbri (PI) and Daniele Nosenzo)

“Religion, Family Structure and the Origins of Individual Freedom and
Economic Prosperity”, John Templeton Foundation, 2021 ($2.54 mio., Co-PI with Joseph Henrich)

“Honesty as a Moral Currency: a Cross-Cultural Study”, Honesty Project at Wake Forest University & John Templeton Foundation, 2021 ($200k, Co-PI with Ori Weisel (PI) and Shaul Shalvi)

In the Media

The Church, Intensive Kinship and Global Psychological Variation: Washington Post, Washington Post Opinion, Newsweek, The Economist, New York Times, Telegraph, NPR, Scientific American, Science Magazine, Science Podcast, FAZ I, FAZ II, NZZ, Focus, Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Time, ...

Moral Machine: The Economist, Washington Post, The New Yorker, BBC, The Guardian, Scientific America, WIRED, Spiegel, Le Monde, ...

Kin networks and Institutional Development: Marginal Revolution, Boston Globe, The American Conservative, Royal Economic Society press release,

Intrinsic Honesty across Societies: The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Science Magazine, Observer, Ars Technica, Spiegel. News and Views by Shaul Shalvi,...

Overconfidence and Career Choice: The Independent, Matt Townsend Show [Interview], Real Clear Science, Vocativ, Bustle, The Boar

Nudging Generosity: Third Sector