Pavitra Govindan

Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Utah

Research

My research is in behavioral and experimental economics, with a focus on social norms, gender and labor markets, motivated reasoning, and development economics.

Published Papers

  1. Govindan, Pavitra. 2024. “Effect of Moderate and Radical Rules on High-Caste Behavior and Norms in India.” World Bank Economic Review.
  2. Bush, Darren, Mark Glick, Pavitra Govindan, and Gabriel Lozada. 2024. “The Horizontal Merger Efficiency Fallacy.” Temple Law Review 96: 571.
  3. Govindan, Pavitra. 2022. “How Do Informal Norms Affect Rule Compliance: Experimental Evidence.” Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics 96: 101795.
  4. Chung, Eunbin, Pavitra Govindan, and Anna Pechenkina. 2022. “The Effect of Incentives on Motivated Numeracy Amidst COVID-19.” Journal of Experimental Political Science, 1–17.
  5. Linford, Matthew R., Pavitra Govindan, et al. 2023. “Perspective on Improving the Quality of Surface and Material Data Analysis with a Focus on X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS).” Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A 41, no. 3.

Working Papers

  1. Chung, Eunbin, Pavitra Govindan, and Anna Pechenkina. n.d. “Money Can’t Buy Accuracy: Incentives Fail to Reduce Confirmation Bias in Politically Charged Contexts.” Revise and resubmit at the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics.
  2. Ranehill, Eva, Marina Chugunova, and Pavitra Govindan. n.d. “Do Meritocratic Evaluations Encourage Women to Enter Male-Majority Workplaces? Experimental Evidence.” Manuscript under review.
  3. Chung, Eunbin, Pavitra Govindan, and Anna Pechenkina. n.d. “The Effects of Need for Cognition and Need for Affect on Motivated Reasoning.” Manuscript under review.
  4. Bernard, Anna, Pavitra Govindan, and Peilu Zhang. n.d. “Do Employers Correct the Gender Gap in Self-Promotion? Evidence from Online Hiring Experiments.” Manuscript under preparation.
  5. Bernard, Anna, Pavitra Govindan, and Peilu Zhang. n.d. “The Gender Gap in Self-Promotion Styles.” Manuscript under preparation.

Works in Progress

  1. Ersoy, Fulya, Pavitra Govindan, Peilu Zhang, Tomer Sandak, and Matthew Brown. “Effect of AI on Teamwork and Cooperative Learning: A Classroom Experiment.”
  2. Bernard, Anna, Pavitra Govindan, and Peilu Zhang. “Measuring Grit in the Lab.”