Alex Imas
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aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas
@aleximas.bsky.social
7.4K followers 3K following 940 posts

Economics + Applied AI, Prof at University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Formerly: Carnegie Mellon, UCSD, Northwestern.

Website: www.aleximas.com

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Business 23%
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aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Dec 15
🚨Huge update to our paper on modeling & measuring systemic discrimination🚨

New more structural framework that is closely tied to applications + measurement

New measurement section on methodology for identifying direct, systemic & total discrimination

Two new field studies demonstrating tools. 1/2
instrumenthull.bsky.social Peter Hull @instrumenthull.bsky.social · Dec 15
We've significantly updated our paper on modeling + measuring systemic discrimination! Check it out:

www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ab5yx...

(cc @aleximas.bsky.social + @aislinnbohren.bsky.social!)

A short 🧵 on what's new...

Reposted by Alex Imas

katymilkman.bsky.social
Katy Milkman @katymilkman.bsky.social · 20d
Happy pub day to THE WINNER'S CURSE by @rthaler.bsky.social + @aleximas.bsky.social!
The original (1992) version of this book changed my life -- it's the reason I study judgment and decision making. For a preview of the new edition, check out my Q&A w/ the authors t.co/n3ThOxpJak

Reposted by Alex Imas

bwaber.bsky.social
Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · Oct 10
Next was a great discussion with @aleximas.bsky.social and Richard Thaler on changing perspectives around behavioral economics anomalies at the Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy & Finance www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v8O... (6/7)
Alex Imas and Richard Thaler on Behavioral Economics Anomalies: Then and Now
YouTube video by Markus' Academy
www.youtube.com

Reposted by Alex Imas

bcfginitiative.bsky.social
Behavior Change for Good Initiative @bcfginitiative.bsky.social · Sep 29
‼️Event Alert‼️ Join @angeladuckworth.bsky.social & @katymilkman.bsky.social for a conversation with Nobel Prize winning economist @rthaler.bsky.social and Professor @aleximas.bsky.social about their new book, The Winner’s Curse.

📅 Thurs, Oct 23 | 4-5PM
📍 Huntsman Hall G06
📩RSVP: bit.ly/4nbI9EG

Reposted by Alex Imas

umakarma.bsky.social
Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · Sep 26
ONE WEEK! The Society for Neuroecon conference is in Cambridge, MA in 1 week!

We are thrilled to have @amberalhadeff.bsky.social and @aleximas.bsky.social as the speakers for our neuroscience and social/decision science workshops

neuroeconomics.org/workshops/
Workshops - Society For Neuroeconomics
neuroeconomics.org

aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Sep 21
Probably longer than you need, but Richard Thaler and I have a book coming out trying to do just that. The chapters on Risk and Utility are especially pertinent: a.co/d/4HpJfEt
Amazon.com
a.co

Reposted by Alex Imas

chicagoboothreview.bsky.social
Chicago Booth Review @chicagoboothreview.bsky.social · Aug 14
Why do students lie about using AI?

Chicago Booth's @aleximas.bsky.social talks about perceptions of AI use in the classroom.

www.chicagobooth.edu/review/podca... #econsky
Why Students Lie About Using AI
Chicago Booth’s Alex Imas talks about perceptions of AI use in the classroom.
www.chicagobooth.edu

Reposted by Alex Imas

aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Apr 30
LINK: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Underreporting of AI use: The role of social desirability bias
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into work and educational settings is rapidly increasing, yet accurately gauging its adoption remains a challeng
papers.ssrn.com

Reposted by Steven Glazerman, Cátia Batista, Alex Imas , and 1 more

olihanney.bsky.social
Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · Apr 11
Important null results in development economics

Despite the bias against publishing null results, they are important for policy, helping to kill bad ideas.

I've highlighted some key examples we have featured on @voxdev.bsky.social: voxdev.org/topic/import...
Important null results in development economics
Despite the bias against publishing null results, they are important for policy, helping to kill bad ideas.
voxdev.org

Reposted by Alex Imas

qjeharvard.bsky.social
The Quarterly Journal of Economics @qjeharvard.bsky.social · Jul 14
#QJE Aug 2025, #2, “Systemic Discrimination: Theory and Measurement,” by Bohren, Hull (@instrumenthull.bsky.social), and Imas (@aleximas.bsky.social): doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
Systemic Discrimination: Theory and Measurement*
Abstract. Economists often measure discrimination as disparities arising from the direct effects of group identity. We develop new tools to model and measu
doi.org

Reposted by Berk Özler, Alex Imas

klauspforr.bsky.social
Klaus Pforr @klauspforr.bsky.social · Jul 10
Paper by @aislinnbohren.bsky.social @instrumenthull.bsky.social and @aleximas.bsky.social on Systemic Discrimination now published in QJE
academic.oup.com/qje/article/...
Systemic Discrimination: Theory and Measurement*
Abstract. Economists often measure discrimination as disparities arising from the direct effects of group identity. We develop new tools to model and measu
academic.oup.com

Reposted by Alex Imas

caai-booth.bsky.social
Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence @caai-booth.bsky.social · Jul 2
Congrats to all faculty who have been recognized for their stellar contributions!

We're especially thrilled to celebrate the eleven Chicago Booth faculty on this list, among them CAAI Faculty Affiliate @aleximas.bsky.social!

news.uchicago.edu/story/twenty...?
Twenty-six UChicago faculty members receive named, distinguished service professorships in July 2025
news.uchicago.edu

Reposted by Alex Imas

chicagoboothreview.bsky.social
Chicago Booth Review @chicagoboothreview.bsky.social · Jun 4
AI can be overconfident.

So a team of researchers came up with a solution: Give AI a way to evaluate and calibrate its own uncertainty, allowing a user to decide how much to trust a prediction. www.chicagobooth.edu/review/how-a...
How AI Can Make Smarter Predictions
Researchers gave AI a way to evaluate and calibrate its own uncertainty.
www.chicagobooth.edu

Reposted by Alex Imas

erictopol.bsky.social
Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · Jun 4
The gutting of US biomedical research with loss of ~2,500 grants affecting research for cancer, Alzheimer’s, infectious disease, global health and much more
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Reposted by Avi Goldfarb, Raffaella Sadun, Alex Imas , and 1 more

reveconstudies.bsky.social
The Review of Economic Studies (REStud) @reveconstudies.bsky.social · Jun 2
Li, @lindseyraymond.bsky.social & @peterbergman.bsky.social show that incorporating exploration into an interview screening algorithm improves demographic diversity & hiring efficiency, while traditional supervised learning-only tools improve hiring rates at the expense of minority applicants.

👇

Reposted by Alex Imas

chanda.blacksky.app
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Jun 1
The interesting thing about people dragging the folks in that NYT piece who said that they didn’t vote for moms to get deported is that the article is about how these women are organizing for a member of their community, aggressively and openly, and actually, that’s good.

Reposted by Alex Imas

chicagoboothreview.bsky.social
Chicago Booth Review @chicagoboothreview.bsky.social · May 29
"You need some way of actually measuring people’s beliefs or their preferences if you wanna test these behavioral stories around bubbles," says Chicago Booth’s Leland Bybee. www.chicagobooth.edu/review/in-it... #econsky #ai
In Its Expectations for the Economy, AI Is Surprisingly Human
AI, designed to mimic the appearance of human reasoning, also forms predictions about the economy in human-like ways.
www.chicagobooth.edu

Reposted by Alex Imas

sweiwang.bsky.social
Stephanie Wang @sweiwang.bsky.social · May 16
Update on the paper: www.wsj.com/tech/ai/mit-...
MIT Says It No Longer Stands Behind Student’s AI Research Paper
The university said it has no confidence in a widely circulated paper by an economics graduate student.
www.wsj.com

aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Apr 30
Sorry, fixed!

bsky.app/profile/alex...

Reposted by Olivier Corneille, Alex Imas

thatadammorris.bsky.social
Adam Morris @thatadammorris.bsky.social · Apr 30
Are we “strangers to ourselves”? Classic theories say people have limited insight into how they decide. Our new paper at @natcomms.nature.com challenges this view. With @rcarl.bsky.social sky.social, @hedykober.bsky.social y.social, and @mjcrockett.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧵
Introspective access to value-based multi-attribute choice processes - Nature Communications
People routinely choose between multi-attribute options, such as which movie to watch. Here, the authors show people often have accurate insight into their choices, challenging the notion that people ...
www.nature.com

aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Apr 30
Yeah that’d be nice but it’s hard for me to think about an environment like that. I think in coding it’s likely smaller but not opposite direction.

aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Apr 29
🚨New paper (link in reply)🚨

Are we underestimating AI use in self-report surveys?

Yes, by as much as 30 percentage pts. We find 60% self-reported vs. truth closer to ~90% (!!)

Why? Social desirability bias, people embarrassed/worried to admit AI use, so they underreport 🧵

aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Apr 29
These results suggest that social desirability may bias estimates of AI use downwards, depending on the setting.

But that tools such as the indirect questioning technique can help.

aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Apr 29
Follow up surveys using both free response and direct questions revealed social desirability bias as the main reason given for the own-other gap. Specifically, the gap was attributed to a reluctance to report one's own AI use rather than an inflation of others' use.

aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Apr 29
On extent of use, majority of students reported using AI 0-1 days a week, while the majority of their friends used AI 4-5 days a week.

aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Apr 29
Results were striking, while ~60% of people reported using AI at all themselves, they reported that ~90% of their friends used AI.

The most common response for own use was "not at all", while the most common response for others' use was "a moderate amount" followed by "a lot".

aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Apr 29
We employed standard indirect questioning technique from psych to overcome social desirability bias:

Instead of asking about one's own AI use, ask about AI use of friends in one's social circle...

aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Apr 29
We ran large survey in educational setting--undergraduates at a mid-sized, selective university--where social desirability bias may be particularly prevalent...

aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Apr 29
One reason for difference in estimates: People may be embarrassed/worried to reveal their own AI use due to either social norms or fear of repercussions.

Such social desirability bias--tendency to answer surveys in ways others view favorably--could bias estimates downwards...

aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Apr 29
Survey of AI use typically rely on self-reports: people are asked whether they use AI and the extent to which they do.

Estimates of AI use vary wildly both between and within the same setting, making it hard to pin down true prevalence of AI use...

Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis, Mark E. Schaffer, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham , and 2 more

nsaphra.bsky.social
Naomi Saphra @nsaphra.bsky.social · Apr 26
I wrote something up for AI people who want to get into bluesky and either couldn't assemble an exciting feed or gave up doomscrolling when their Following feed switched to talking politics 24/7.
The AI Researcher's Guide to a Non-Boring Bluesky Feed | Naomi Saphra
How to migrate to bsky without a boring feed.
nsaphra.net