Associate Professor of Economics
Andy Brownback
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Education
2010-2015
University of California, San Diego
PhD in Economics (2015)
Advisor: James Andreoni

2006-2010
Kansas State University
BA in Economics and Mathematics (2010)
Minors in Spanish and Statistics
Teaching
2026-Present
University of Arkansas
Principles of Microeconomics: Introductory undergraduate course in microeconomics.

2020-2025
University of Arkansas
Micro Theory II: Graduate course in microeconomic theory including foundations of choice, game theory, asymmetric information, and imperfect competition.
Mathematics for Economists: Graduate review course on fundamental mathematics needed to study economics.
Economics of Organizations:
Undergraduate course in managerial economics, game theory, and industrial organization.

2015-2019
University of Arkansas
Industrial Organization I:
Graduate course in applied microeconomic theory and industrial organization.

2010-2015
University of California, San Diego
Teaching assistant for Game Theory, MBA Strategy, and Intermediate Microeconomics​.

About Me

I'm an associate professor of economics at the University of Arkansas specializing in behavioral and experimental economics. I use laboratory, field, and online experiments to study questions about education, health, and public policy. ​

I'm originally from Kansas where I received my bachelor's degree at Kansas State University. I received my PhD in economics from UC San Diego. ​

Grants, Awards, & Fellowships

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture
(PI with Sherry Li, Khoa Luu, and Brandon McFadden)
2024 - 2027

Nutrition and Machine Vision ($650,000)

Arkansas biosciences institute grant
‍(PI with Sherry Li, Khoa Luu, and Brandon McFadden)
2024-2025

Nutrition and Machine Vision ($60,000)

The British Academy Research Grant
(Co-PI with Guillermo Cruces, Seung-Keun Martinez, Monika Pompeo, and silvia sonderegger)
2021 - 2022

Motivated Reasoning, Paradoxical Thinking, and COVID-19 Vaccination ($180,000)

Walton College Excellence in Research Award
2020
PEDL Major Research Grant
(Co-PI with Sarojini Hirshleifer and Arman Rezaee)
2018 - 2022

Employer beliefs, employee training, and labor market outcomes: A field experiment in Uganda ($452,000)

J-PAL Post-Primary Education Initiative
(Co-PI with Sarojini Hirshleifer and Arman Rezaee)
2018 - 2019

Employer beliefs, employee training, and labor market outcomes: A field experiment in Uganda ($16,660)

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
(PI with Alex Imas and Michael Kuhn)
2017 - 2018

Examining the impact of waiting periods on improving the use of food subsidies for healthier consumption while maintaining choice ($198,940)

Laura and John Arnold Foundation
(Co-PI with Sally Sadoff)
2016 - 2018

Improving Community College Outcomes through Performance Incentives ($312,000)

Yankelovich Foundation
(Co-PI with Sally Sadoff)
2016 - 2017

Improving Community College Outcomes through Performance Incentives ($25,000)

Russell Sage Foundation Small Grant in Behavioral Economics
(PI with Tristan Gagnon-Bartsch and Shengwu Li)
2015 - 2016

On the Elicitation of Willingness to Pay for Stigmatized Goods ($4,700)

Research

Review of Economics and Statistics (2025)
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Games and Economic Behavior (2024)
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Journal of Human Resources (2024)
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Journal of Political Economy (2020)
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Games and Economic Behavior (2019)
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Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (2018)
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Economics of Education Review (2018)
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Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (2017)
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Works in Progress

Time-Preferences and Food choice (with Alex Imas & Michael Kuhn)
Revision Requested at the Journal of Public Economics
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Effect of Informational COVID-19 Vaccine Videos on Perceptions of Vaccination Among Unvaccinated Individuals (with Guillermo Cruces, Seung-Keun Martinez, Monika Pompeo, & Silvia Sonderegger)
Accepted at BMJ Public Health
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Hidden bias in categorical response scales (with Brandon MCFadden, Emily Schlichtig, Lawton L. Nalley, & Aaron Shew)
Revision Requested at the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
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Beliefs and the Demand for Employee Training: A Field Experiment with Small Firms in Uganda (with Isaac Ahimbisibwe, Sarojini Hirshleifer, & Arman Rezaee)
In Progress
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Improving Outcomes through Community-based Support for Foster Families (with Vivian Crumlish, Jonathan Davis, Sarah Kroeger, Max Olander, & Sally Sadoff)
In Progress
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Outcome Bias: Origins and Persistence
In Progress