Biography
J. Michelle Brock is a Senior Research Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Her research focuses on: social professional norms; attitudes toward risk and uncertainty; and inequality of opportunity. She is currently developing a project to study the role of risk attitudes in the choice to migrate abroad, and the link between migration and entrepreneurship.
Her work on inequality of opportunity includes macroeconomic assessments of inequality of opportunity and perceptions in the transition region, as well as microeconomic projects on gender and finance. For example, she is working on a project to study whether and how norms of gender bias against women impact lending to female firm owners in highly competitive credit markets.
Michelle also studies how professional and social norms influence worker effort, and how non-monetary incentives can be used to complement wages. One example is a study on whether image concerns can be used to incentivize professionalism among judges in Tajikistan.
Michelle’s work contributes to the understanding of how behavioral economics operates in the real world and aims to establish links between the laboratory environment and the field. She uses experimental economics, randomized controlled trials and household surveys for her research. She completed her PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland in 2011.
Her work on inequality of opportunity includes macroeconomic assessments of inequality of opportunity and perceptions in the transition region, as well as microeconomic projects on gender and finance. For example, she is working on a project to study whether and how norms of gender bias against women impact lending to female firm owners in highly competitive credit markets.
Michelle also studies how professional and social norms influence worker effort, and how non-monetary incentives can be used to complement wages. One example is a study on whether image concerns can be used to incentivize professionalism among judges in Tajikistan.
Michelle’s work contributes to the understanding of how behavioral economics operates in the real world and aims to establish links between the laboratory environment and the field. She uses experimental economics, randomized controlled trials and household surveys for her research. She completed her PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland in 2011.
Education
2011 - Ph.D. Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland
2008 - M.Sc. Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland
2002 - B.Sc. Environmental Economics and Policy, University of California, Berkeley
2008 - M.Sc. Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland
2002 - B.Sc. Environmental Economics and Policy, University of California, Berkeley
Research interests
- Behavioural & Experimental Economics
- Development Economics
- Economic inclusion
- Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics
- Applied Microeconomics
Working papers
J.M. Brock and Ralph De Haas (2019). "Gender discrimination in small business lending. Evidence from a lab-in-the-field experiment in Turkey." EBRD working paper No. 232.
J.M. Brock. (2016). “Inequality of opportunity and beliefs about success and failure.” EBRD working paper No. 187.
J.M. Brock (2014). “Self-worth versus net worth: image motivation and the quantity-quality trade-off.” EBRD working paper No. 182.
Publications in journals
K.N. Vasilaky & J.M. Brock (2020). “Power (ful) guidelines for experimental economists.” Journal of the Economic Science Association, 6(2), 189-212.
J.M. Brock. (2020). “Unfair inequality, governance and individual beliefs.” Journal of Comparative Economics, forthcoming.
J. M. Brock, A. Lange and K.L. Leonard (2018). “Giving and Promising Gifts: Experimental Evidence on Reciprocity from the Field.” Journal of Health Economics, 58, 188-201.
J.M. Brock, A. Lange and E.Y. Ozbay (2016). "Dictating the Risks: Experimental Evidence on Giving in Risky Environments: Reply" American Economic Review, vol. 106(3), pages 840-42.
J.M. Brock, A. Lange and K.L. Leonard (2016). "Generosity and Prosocial Behavior in Healthcare Provision: Evidence from the Laboratory and Field." Journal of Human Resources, 51(1), 133-162.
J.M. Brock, A. Lange and K.L. Leonard (2015). "Esteem and Social Information: On Determinants of Prosocial Behavior of Clinicians in Tanzania." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, vol. 118, pages 85-94.
J.M. Brock, A. Lange and E.Y. Ozbay (2013). "Dictating the Risks: Experimental Evidence on Giving in Risky Environments." American Economic Review, vol. 103(1), pages 415-37.
Publications in books
C.G. Aksoy, J.M. Brock, F. Dalla Pozza and P. Poutvaara (2018). “International Migration.” EBRD Transition Report 2018-2019, Chapter 3.
J. M. Brock, V. Peragine and S. Tonini (2016). “Inequality of Opportunity.” EBRD Transition Report 2016-2017, Chapter 3.
J.M. Brock, R. Greenberg, B. Rambousek and C. Wolff (2013). "Economic Inclusion in Transition." EBRD Transition Report, Chapter 5, pp. 81-98.
J.M. Brock, K.L. Leonard, M.C. Masatu and P. Serneels (2013). "Health Worker Performance." In: Soucat. Agnes, Richard M. Scheffler, with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (Eds.) The Health Labor Market in Africa: A New Look at the Crisis. Washington DC: World Bank. View
K.L. Leonard, P. Serneels and J. M. Brock (2013). "Intrinsic Motivation." In: Soucat, Agnes, Richard M. Scheffler, with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (Eds.) The Health Labor Market in Africa: A New Look at the Crisis. Washington DC: World Bank. View
