James Walsh

James Walsh
Postdoctoral Researcher in Behavioural Economics (BSG)
Researcher

James Walsh is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Behavioural Economics at the University of Oxford and a Research Fellow at Harvard University. Prior to coming to Oxford, James was a part of the research team that wrote the World Development Report 2015: 'Mind, Society, and Behavior' and a member of the World Bank’s Behavioural Science team eMBeD. He holds a BA in Economics and Social Science (First Class Honours) from Trinity College Dublin and an MPP from Harvard Kennedy School, where he received a Kennedy Scholarship. He completed his DPhil at the Blavatnik School and Nuffield College, Oxford.

Research

James’s research brings data and theory from economics and psychology to understand how the systems that organise our daily lives can be more responsive to our motivations, belief systems, and social commitments. James has worked on the application of behavioural economics around the world – in Malawi, Lebanon, the United States, the United Kingdom, India, and Ethiopia. This work has spanned diverse range of policy domains, such as employment, education, health, conservation, and social cohesion.

Publications
  • Stories in Action  (2023) in Psychological Perspectives in the Public Interest (with Naomi Vaida, Alin Coman, and Susan Fiske)
  • Delivering behavioural change at scale: What conservation can learn from other fields (2021) in Conservation Biology (with Henry Travers, Sonja Vogt, Tom Clements, and E.J. Milner-Gulland)
  • The Third Function of Law Is to Transform Cultural Categories (with Karla Hoff) in Law, Economics, and Conflict Eds. Basu K. & Hockett R. (2021)
  • The Whys of Social Exclusion: Insights from Behavioral Economics (2018) in World Bank Research Observer (with Karla Hoff)