In addition to having served as an assistant professor at Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management), Julian has spent time as a fellow and/or visiting faculty member at UC Berkeley (Public Health); UC San Francisco (Medical School); University of Southern California (Psychology); Caltech (Social Science); HEC Paris (Finance); Yale (Economics); and Harvard (Kennedy School of Government). He spent nine years in the public sector, within the US government and the World Bank, before returning to academia to join the University of Exeter in 2018.
Julian’s research focuses on the interaction between individual preferences, decisions, and well-being on the one hand, and institutional policies on the other, with a special interest in explicit welfare tradeoffs. He uses a wide range of methodological approaches, ranging from mathematical theory to lab & field experiments to formal rhetoric to surveys to large administrative data. Much of his work has taken place in more than a dozen developing countries (especially in sub-Saharan Africa), with a particular sectoral focus on health and financial behavior, but he is easily tempted in new directions. He has traveled to over 85 countries.
Julian’s work has been published in academic journals spanning a wide range of disciplines, and it has been mentioned in media outlets such as The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, Forbes, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and The Economist. He has consulted for the US National Institute of Mental Health, NASA, the US Army, Bates White, Lockheed-Martin, and GiveWell. Julian once received a special award in physics at the 1987 science fair in Washington, DC.
Nationality: USA and Canada
Qualifications
PhD in Economics, MIT
BS and MS in Mathematics, Caltech
Research interests
- Behavioral Public Policy
- Development Economics
- Experiment and Survey Methodology
- Microeconomic Theory
- Health & Financial Decision-making
- Welfare Economics
- Political Philosophy
Links
Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year
Key publications
Blattman C, Jamison JC, Sheridan M (2017). Reducing Crime and Violence: Experimental Evidence from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Liberia.
American Economic Review,
107(4), 1165-1206.
Full text.
DOI.
Blattman C, Green EP, Jamison J, Lehmann MC, Annan J (2016). The Returns to Microenterprise Support among the Ultrapoor: a Field Experiment in Postwar Uganda.
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics,
8(2), 35-64.
Full text.
DOI.
Publications by category
Journal articles
Jamison J (In Press). Accounting for Timing when Assessing Health-Related Policies.
Journal of Benefit Cost Analysis Full text.
DOI.
Carpenter JP, Huet-Vaughn E, Matthews PH, Robbett A, Beckett D, Jamison JC (In Press). Choice Architecture to Improve Financial Decision Making.
The Review of Economics and Statistics Full text.
Jamison J (In Press). Motivating Bureaucrats through Social Recognition: External Validity – a Tale of Two States.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes Full text.
Jamison J (In Press). Risk preferences in future military leaders.
Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy Full text.
Jamison JC (2019). The Entry of Randomized Assignment into the Social Sciences.
Journal of Causal Inference,
7(1).
Abstract:
The Entry of Randomized Assignment into the Social Sciences
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston. Although the concept of randomized assignment in order to control for extraneous confounding factors reaches back hundreds of years, the first empirical use appears to have been in an 1835 trial of homeopathic medicine. Throughout the 19 th century there was a growing awareness of the need for comparison groups, albeit often without the realization that randomization could be a clean method to achieve that goal. In the second and more crucial phase of this history, four separate but related disciplines introduced randomized control trials within a few years of one another in the 1920s: agricultural science; clinical medicine; educational psychology; and social policy (specifically political science). This brought increasing rigor to fields that were focusing more on causal relationships. In a third phase, the 1950s through 1970s saw a surge of interest in more applied randomized experiments in economics and elsewhere - both in the lab and especially in the field.
Abstract.
Full text.
DOI.
Madrian BC, Hershfield HE, Sussman AB, Bhargava S, Burke J, Huettel SA, Jamison J, Johnson EJ, Lynch JG, Meier S, et al (2017). Behaviorally informed policies for household financial decisionmaking.
Behavioral Science & Policy,
3(1), 26-40.
Full text.
DOI.
Bryan CJ, Mazar N, Jamison J, Braithwaite J, Dechausay N, Fishbane A, Fox E, Gauri V, Glennerster R, Haushofer J, et al (2017). Overcoming behavioral obstacles to escaping poverty.
Behavioral Science & Policy,
3(1), 80-91.
DOI.
Blattman C, Jamison JC, Sheridan M (2017). Reducing Crime and Violence: Experimental Evidence from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Liberia.
American Economic Review,
107(4), 1165-1206.
Full text.
DOI.
Jamison J, Owens D, Woroch G (2017). Social Learning about Environmental Innovations: Experimental Analysis of Adoption Timing.
Strategic Behavior and the Environment,
7, 135-178.
Full text.
DOI.
Green EP, Blattman C, Jamison J, Annan J (2016). Does poverty alleviation decrease depression symptoms in post-conflict settings? a cluster-randomized trial of microenterprise assistance in Northern Uganda.
Global Mental Health,
3Abstract:
Does poverty alleviation decrease depression symptoms in post-conflict settings? a cluster-randomized trial of microenterprise assistance in Northern Uganda
Background.By 2009, two decades of war and widespread displacement left the majority of the population of Northern Uganda impoverished.Methods.This study used a cluster-randomized design to test the hypothesis that a poverty alleviation program would improve economic security and reduce symptoms of depression in a sample of mostly young women. Roughly 120 villages in Northern Uganda were invited to participate. Community committees were asked to identify the most vulnerable women (and some men) to participate. The implementing agency screened all proposed participants, and a total of 1800 were enrolled. Following a baseline survey, villages were randomized to a treatment or wait-list control group. Participants in treatment villages received training, start-up capital, and follow-up support. Participants, implementers, and data collectors were not blinded to treatment status.Results.Villages were randomized to the treatment group (60 villages with 896 participants) or the wait-list control group (60 villages with 904 participants) with an allocation ration of 1:1. All clusters participated in the intervention and were included in the analysis. The intent-to-treat analysis included 860 treatment participants and 866 control participants (4.1% attrition). Sixteen months after the program, monthly cash earnings doubled from UGX 22 523 to 51 124, non-household and non-farm businesses doubled, and cash savings roughly quadrupled. There was no measurable effect on a locally derived measure of symptoms of depression.Conclusions.Despite finding large increases in business, income, and savings among the treatment group, we do not find support for an indirect effect of poverty alleviation on symptoms of depression.
Abstract.
DOI.
Blattman C, Jamison J, Koroknay-Palicz T, Rodrigues K, Sheridan M (2016). Measuring the measurement error: a method to qualitatively validate survey data.
Journal of Development Economics,
120, 99-112.
Full text.
DOI.
Jamison JC (2016). Perceptions Regarding the Value of Life Before and After Birth.
Reproductive System & Sexual Disorders,
05(04).
Full text.
DOI.
Blattman C, Green EP, Jamison J, Lehmann MC, Annan J (2016). The Returns to Microenterprise Support among the Ultrapoor: a Field Experiment in Postwar Uganda.
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics,
8(2), 35-64.
Full text.
DOI.
Jamison J, Karlan D (2015). CANDY ELASTICITY: HALLOWEEN EXPERIMENTS ON PUBLIC POLITICAL STATEMENTS.
Economic Inquiry,
54(1), 543-547.
Full text.
DOI.
Conell-Price L, Jamison J (2015). Predicting health behaviors with economic preferences & locus of control.
Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics,
54, 1-9.
DOI.
Drouvelis M, Jamison JC (2015). Selecting public goods institutions: Who likes to punish and reward?.
Southern Economic Journal,
82(2), 501-534.
DOI.
Green EP, Blattman C, Jamison J, Annan J (2015). Women's entrepreneurship and intimate partner violence: a cluster randomized trial of microenterprise assistance and partner participation in post-conflict Uganda (SSM-D-14-01580R1).
Social Science & Medicine,
133, 177-188.
Full text.
DOI.
Publications by year
In Press
Jamison J (In Press). Accounting for Timing when Assessing Health-Related Policies.
Journal of Benefit Cost Analysis Full text.
DOI.
Carpenter JP, Huet-Vaughn E, Matthews PH, Robbett A, Beckett D, Jamison JC (In Press). Choice Architecture to Improve Financial Decision Making.
The Review of Economics and Statistics Full text.
Jamison J (In Press). Motivating Bureaucrats through Social Recognition: External Validity – a Tale of Two States.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes Full text.
Jamison J (In Press). Risk preferences in future military leaders.
Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy Full text.
2019
Jamison JC (2019). The Entry of Randomized Assignment into the Social Sciences.
Journal of Causal Inference,
7(1).
Abstract:
The Entry of Randomized Assignment into the Social Sciences
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston. Although the concept of randomized assignment in order to control for extraneous confounding factors reaches back hundreds of years, the first empirical use appears to have been in an 1835 trial of homeopathic medicine. Throughout the 19 th century there was a growing awareness of the need for comparison groups, albeit often without the realization that randomization could be a clean method to achieve that goal. In the second and more crucial phase of this history, four separate but related disciplines introduced randomized control trials within a few years of one another in the 1920s: agricultural science; clinical medicine; educational psychology; and social policy (specifically political science). This brought increasing rigor to fields that were focusing more on causal relationships. In a third phase, the 1950s through 1970s saw a surge of interest in more applied randomized experiments in economics and elsewhere - both in the lab and especially in the field.
Abstract.
Full text.
DOI.
2017
Madrian BC, Hershfield HE, Sussman AB, Bhargava S, Burke J, Huettel SA, Jamison J, Johnson EJ, Lynch JG, Meier S, et al (2017). Behaviorally informed policies for household financial decisionmaking.
Behavioral Science & Policy,
3(1), 26-40.
Full text.
DOI.
Bryan CJ, Mazar N, Jamison J, Braithwaite J, Dechausay N, Fishbane A, Fox E, Gauri V, Glennerster R, Haushofer J, et al (2017). Overcoming behavioral obstacles to escaping poverty.
Behavioral Science & Policy,
3(1), 80-91.
DOI.
Blattman C, Jamison JC, Sheridan M (2017). Reducing Crime and Violence: Experimental Evidence from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Liberia.
American Economic Review,
107(4), 1165-1206.
Full text.
DOI.
Jamison J, Owens D, Woroch G (2017). Social Learning about Environmental Innovations: Experimental Analysis of Adoption Timing.
Strategic Behavior and the Environment,
7, 135-178.
Full text.
DOI.
2016
Green EP, Blattman C, Jamison J, Annan J (2016). Does poverty alleviation decrease depression symptoms in post-conflict settings? a cluster-randomized trial of microenterprise assistance in Northern Uganda.
Global Mental Health,
3Abstract:
Does poverty alleviation decrease depression symptoms in post-conflict settings? a cluster-randomized trial of microenterprise assistance in Northern Uganda
Background.By 2009, two decades of war and widespread displacement left the majority of the population of Northern Uganda impoverished.Methods.This study used a cluster-randomized design to test the hypothesis that a poverty alleviation program would improve economic security and reduce symptoms of depression in a sample of mostly young women. Roughly 120 villages in Northern Uganda were invited to participate. Community committees were asked to identify the most vulnerable women (and some men) to participate. The implementing agency screened all proposed participants, and a total of 1800 were enrolled. Following a baseline survey, villages were randomized to a treatment or wait-list control group. Participants in treatment villages received training, start-up capital, and follow-up support. Participants, implementers, and data collectors were not blinded to treatment status.Results.Villages were randomized to the treatment group (60 villages with 896 participants) or the wait-list control group (60 villages with 904 participants) with an allocation ration of 1:1. All clusters participated in the intervention and were included in the analysis. The intent-to-treat analysis included 860 treatment participants and 866 control participants (4.1% attrition). Sixteen months after the program, monthly cash earnings doubled from UGX 22 523 to 51 124, non-household and non-farm businesses doubled, and cash savings roughly quadrupled. There was no measurable effect on a locally derived measure of symptoms of depression.Conclusions.Despite finding large increases in business, income, and savings among the treatment group, we do not find support for an indirect effect of poverty alleviation on symptoms of depression.
Abstract.
DOI.
Blattman C, Jamison J, Koroknay-Palicz T, Rodrigues K, Sheridan M (2016). Measuring the measurement error: a method to qualitatively validate survey data.
Journal of Development Economics,
120, 99-112.
Full text.
DOI.
Jamison JC (2016). Perceptions Regarding the Value of Life Before and After Birth.
Reproductive System & Sexual Disorders,
05(04).
Full text.
DOI.
Blattman C, Green EP, Jamison J, Lehmann MC, Annan J (2016). The Returns to Microenterprise Support among the Ultrapoor: a Field Experiment in Postwar Uganda.
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics,
8(2), 35-64.
Full text.
DOI.
2015
Jamison J, Karlan D (2015). CANDY ELASTICITY: HALLOWEEN EXPERIMENTS ON PUBLIC POLITICAL STATEMENTS.
Economic Inquiry,
54(1), 543-547.
Full text.
DOI.
Conell-Price L, Jamison J (2015). Predicting health behaviors with economic preferences & locus of control.
Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics,
54, 1-9.
DOI.
Drouvelis M, Jamison JC (2015). Selecting public goods institutions: Who likes to punish and reward?.
Southern Economic Journal,
82(2), 501-534.
DOI.
Green EP, Blattman C, Jamison J, Annan J (2015). Women's entrepreneurship and intimate partner violence: a cluster randomized trial of microenterprise assistance and partner participation in post-conflict Uganda (SSM-D-14-01580R1).
Social Science & Medicine,
133, 177-188.
Full text.
DOI.
External positions
- Research Affiliate: Innovations for Poverty Action
- Research Affiliate: Jameel Poverty Action Lab
- Consultant: Mind, Behavior, and Development (eMBeD) Unit, The World Bank
- Associate Editor: Behavioral Science & Policy
Modules
2019/20
Information not currently available
