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aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas
@aleximas.bsky.social
7.3K 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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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...
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Reposted by Alex Imas
umakarma.bsky.social
Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 12d
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
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Reposted by Alex Imas
bcfginitiative.bsky.social
Behavior Change for Good Initiative @bcfginitiative.bsky.social · 9d
‼️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
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aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · 16d
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
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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
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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
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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
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Reposted by 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
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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
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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/...
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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
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Reposted by Alex Imas
peterbergman.bsky.social
Peter Bergman @peterbergman.bsky.social · Jun 2
Our work now published showing how better AI can improve both accuracy and diversity in hiring relative to supervised learning tools and status-quo human hiring.
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.

👇
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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.
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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
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Reposted by Alex Imas
rcarl.bsky.social
Ryan Carlson @rcarl.bsky.social · May 1
Introspection has gotten a bad rap over the years. Here we show that people have more insight into the algorithms behind their decisions than we tend to assume. Thrilled to see this work out at Nature Comms with the always brilliant @thatadammorris.bsky.social!
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
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aleximas.bsky.social
Alex Imas @aleximas.bsky.social · Apr 30
Sorry, fixed!

bsky.app/profile/alex...
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
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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
3
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.
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Reposted by Alex Imas
benbushong.com
Ben Bushong @benbushong.com · Apr 30
This is cool for, like, other people who have actually used AI... not me, nope.
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 🧵
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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".
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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...
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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...
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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...
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