Steven Bosworth

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+44 (0) 118 378 7126
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Associate Professor in Economics
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Economics PGT Director
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BESS Co-director
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Module Convener for EC224 & EC301
Areas of interest
Behavioural economics, experimental economics, cooperation, identity economics, endogenous determinants of social preferences.
Postgraduate supervision
I welcome PhD applications in the field of behavioural and experimental economics, but have a particular interest in supervising proposals which investigate:
- Human cooperation within and between organisations and the institutions that support it
- The economic determinants and consequences of social identity (e.g. gender, class, ethnicity, ideology).
Research centres and groups
Background
My research uses microeconomic theory and controlled laboratory experiments to investigate how context, motivation and the social environment influence human cooperation.
My published work has specifically examined how uncertainty about intentions can frustrate coordinated shifts to better practices, how the distribution of prosocial dispositions in society hinges on the prevalence of environments in which people are forced to compete, and how to think about the consequences of social fragmentation on wellbeing.
Before joining the University of Reading in 2017, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for the World Economy in Kiel, Germany. I earned my PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in 2013.
Academic qualifications
- PhD Economics, University of Pittsburgh, 2013
- MA Economics, University of Pittsburgh, 2010
- BSc Economics and Mathematics, Truman State University, 2008
Awards and honours
- Rebuilding Macroeconomics Social Cooperation Hub small grants 2019-2020 (£21,500)
- Young Scientists Program research grant, German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development, 2016-2017 (20,000 EUR)
Professional bodies/affiliations
Publications
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Bosworth, S.
ORCID: 0000-0002-8978-9516 and Snower, D. (2023) Technological advance, social fragmentation and welfare. Social Choice and Welfare ISSN: 1432-217X
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Biroli, P.
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Bosworth, S.
ORCID: 0000-0002-8978-9516 , Della Giusta, M.
ORCID: 0000-0003-3959-4451 , Di Girolamo, A. , Jaworska, S.
ORCID: 0000-0001-7465-2245 , Vollen, J. (2021) Family life in lockdown. Frontiers in Psychology , 12 ISSN: 1664-1078 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.687570
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Chierchia, G.
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Przyrembel, M.
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Lesemann, F.
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Bosworth, S.
ORCID: 0000-0002-8978-9516 , Snower, D. , Singer, T. (2021) Navigating motivation: a semantic and subjective atlas of 7 motives. Frontiers in Psychology , 11 ISSN: 1664-1078 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.568064
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Snower, D.
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Bosworth, S.
ORCID: 0000-0002-8978-9516 (2021) Economic, social and political fragmentation: linking knowledge-biased growth, identity, populism and protectionism. European Journal of Political Economy , 67 ISSN: 0176-2680 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2020.101965
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Della Giusta, M.
ORCID: 0000-0003-3959-4451 and Bosworth, S.
ORCID: 0000-0002-8978-9516 (2020) Bias and discrimination: what do we know?. Oxford Review of Economic Policy , 36 (4). pp. 925-943. ISSN: 1460-2121 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/graa045
- Bartke, S. , Bosworth, S. , Snower, D. , Chierchia, G. (2019) Motives and comprehension in a public goods game with induced emotions. Theory and Decision , 86 (2). pp. 205-238. ISSN: 1573-7187 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11238-018-9677-5
- Bosworth, S. (2017) The importance of higher-order beliefs to successful coordination. Experimental Economics , 20 (1). pp. 237-258. ISSN: 1386-4157 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10683-016-9483-2
- Neyse, L. , Bosworth, S. , Ring, P. , Schmidt, U. (2016) Overconfidence, incentives and digit ratio. Scientific Reports , 6 ISSN: 2045-2322 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep23294
- Bosworth, S. , Singer, T. , Snower, D. (2016) Cooperation, motivation and social balance. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization , 126 (B). pp. 72-94. ISSN: 0167-2681 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2015.12.005
- Snower, D. and Bosworth, S. (2016) Identity-driven cooperation versus competition. American Economic Review , 106 (5). pp. 420-424. ISSN: 0002-8282 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.p20161041
- Bruttel, L. , Stolley, F. , Guth, W. , Kliemt, H. , Bosworth, S. , Bartke, S. , Schnellenbach, J. , Weimann, J. , Haupt, M. , Funk, L. (2014) Nudging als politisches Instrument - gute Absicht oder staatlicher Übergriff?. Wirtschaftsdienst , 94 (11). pp. 767-791. ISSN: 1613-978X | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10273-014-1748-9
- Bosworth, S. (2013) Social capital and equilibrium selection in Stag Hunt games. Journal of Economic Psychology , 39 pp. 11-20. ISSN: 0167-4870 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2013.06.004