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J Jobu Babin
Associate Professor of Economics

Stipes Hall 430D
JJ-Babin@wiu.edu

Ph.D. Economics, the University of Memphis, 2017, Choice in Consideration of the Other: an Experimental Approach

M.S. Analytics, the University of Iowa

M.A. Economics, the University of Memphis

G.C., Cognitive Science, the University of Memphis

B.B.A. Business Economics, the University of Memphis

Personal website

Dr. J. Jobu Babin is a behavioral microeconomist interested in experimental and quantitative methods, insights from cognitive science, and data analytics tool. He currently holds the Cecil P. McDonough Endowed Professorship and is the director of the Behavioral Economics and Organization Research Group (BEORG). His doctoral studies lie at the intersection of Economics and Cognitive Science and he has graduate training in Analytics from the Tippie School of Business at the University of Iowa.

An active researcher, he seeks to understand the determinants of pro-social choice, communication in bargaining games, why people lie or misreport on the job, and the role of norms, stereotypes, and discrimination in economic decision-making. Dr. Babin serves on several editorial boards. 

Dr. Babin currently teaches game theory, microeconomic theory, managerial economics, and behavioral economics at the graduate and undergraduate levels. In the classroom, he employs experiments and games to allow his students to witness the individual and social impacts of economic decision-making. He currently serves as the advisor for the MS-Quantitative Economics program and has demonstrated a commitment to guiding student research.

Selected Research Papers

• Babin, JJ, Chauhan, H. "Revisiting Erat and Gneezy’s White Lies Paradigm" (2024, forthcoming, Journal of Economic Psychology).
• Babin JJ, Chauhan, HS, and Kistler, SL (2024). "When Pretty Hurts: Beauty Premia and Penalties in eSports Contracts." Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol. 217, pp. 726-741.

• Babin, JJ, and Hussey, AJ (2023). "Gender Penalties and Solidarity -- Teaching Evaluation Differentials in and out of STEM." Economics Letters Vol. 226..

• Babin, JJ, and Chauhan, HS (2023). "Show No Quarter:  Combating Plausible Lies with Ex Ante Honesty Oaths." Journal of the Economic Science Association .

• Babin, JJ, Chauhan, HS, and Liu, F. (2022). "You Can’t Hide Your Lying Eyes: Honesty Oaths and Misrepresentation." Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics. Vol. 98. 

• Babin, JJ, and Chauhan, HS (2023). "Initiating Free-flow Communication in Trust Games."  Frontiers in Behavioral Economics, Vol. 2.

• Babin, JJ, Foray, MP, and Hussey, AJ (2021). "Stay at Home Orders, Loneliness, and Collaborative Behavior." Economics and Human Biology, Vol. 43(1).

• Babin JJ, Hussey,  AJ, Nikolsko-Rzhevskyy, A, and Taylor, DA. (2020). "Beauty Premiums Among Academics." Economics of Education Review, Vol. 78(3).

• Babin JJ. (2020). "Linguistic Signaling, Emojis, and Skin Tone in Trust Games." PLoS ONE 15(6).

Editorial experience and referee service:

Games and Economics Behavior; Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization; Labour Economics; Economics and Human Biology; Psychology Bulletin; Journal of Economic Insight; PLoS One; Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics; Frontiers in Psychology; Frontiers in Behavioral Economics; Applied Science; Games.

Upper Division and Graduate Course Responsibilities

• Economics 504: Price Theory
• Economics 538: Managerial Economics
• Economics 445G: Game Theory
• Economics 489G: Behavioral Economics *NEW *

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