Jonathan F Schulz

Associate Professor

Experimental and Behavioral Economics, Cultural Evolution, Economic History

My research lies at the intersection of Cultural Evolution, Economics, and Psychology, focusing on how human psychology co-evolves with formal and informal institutions—and how this dynamic has shaped our contemporary world.

My work appears in top general-interest journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Human Behavior and PNAS, as well as in leading disciplinary outlets including the Journal of Political Economy, Economic Journal and Management Science. It has been featured in major media outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker among many others.

In 2023, I was awarded the Royal Economic Society Prize for my research on kin networks and institutional development. Additionally, I serve as Co-Principal Investigator on the interdisciplinary Historical Psychology Project.

For an introduction to my research, listen to my conversation on the game changer podcast.

Selected Publications

How Cultural Diversity Drives Innovation: Surnames and Patents in U.S. History, Journal of Political Economy, accepted, with Max Posch and Joseph Henrich.

Social Norms and Dishonesty across Societies (2022). PNAS (with Diego Aycinena, Lucas Rentschler and Ben Beranek)

Kin Networks and Institutional Development (2022). Economic Journal. Winner of the Royal Economic Society Price 2022.

The Church, intensive kinship, and global psychological variation (2019). Science, 366, 6466 (with D. Bahrami-Rad, J. Beauchamp, & J. Henrich)

The Moral Machine Experiment (2018). Nature, 563, 59-64 (with E. Awad, S. Dsouza, R. Kim, J. Henrich, A. Shariff, J.-F. Bonnefon, & I. Rahwan)

Intrinsic Honesty and the Prevalence of Rule Violations across Societies (2016). Nature, 531, 496‑499 (with S. Gächter)

Expanded Publication List

Working papers

Kin-based Institutions and Economic Development (2022) with Duman Bahrami-Rad, Jonathan Beauchamp, and Joseph Henrich (R&R at Review of Economic Studies)

Culture and Gender differences in honesty. 2023, with Caroline Graf and Andreas Pondorfer. (R&R, Economic Journal)

Accepted pre-registered reports

The Cultural Prevalence of the Minimal Group Effect and its Relationship with two Forms of Real-World Bias (pre-registered report principally accepted at Nature Human Behavior) proposing author for the PSA with Kate Yang and Yarrow Dunham.

Peer reviewed

Guilt- and Shame-Driven Prosociality Across Societies, Nature Human Behavior, accepted, with Catherine Molho, Ivan Soraperra, and Shaul Shalvi.

How Cultural Diversity Drives Innovation: Surnames and Patents in U.S. History, Journal of Political Economy, accepted, with Max Posch and Joseph Henrich.

The Chronospatial Revolution in Psychology. Nature Human Behavior, accepted, with M. Atari and J. Henrich.

The Science of Honesty: a Review and Research Agenda. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, accepted, collaboration led by S. Shalvi.

The behavioral mechanisms of voluntary cooperation across culturally diverse societies: Evidence from the US, the UK, Morocco, and Turkey (accepted) Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization with T. Weber, B. Beranek, S. Gächter and F. Lambarraa-Lehnhard.

Strategic Competition and Self-confidence (accepted). Management Science (with S. Brilion, S. Grassi, and M. Grieder)

Social Norms and Dishonesty across Societies (2022). PNAS (with Diego Aycinena, Lucas Rentschler and Ben Beranek)

Kin networks and institutional development (2022). Economic Journal. Replication Data: click here; (Ungated) pre-print: click here

Selection into experiments: New evidence on the role of preferences, cognition, and recruitment protocols (2022). Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (with P. Thiemann, U. Sunde, and C. Thoeni).

Reply to: Life and death decisions of autonomous vehicles (2020). Nature, 579, E3–E5 (with A. Edmond, S. Dsouza, R. Kim, J. Henrich, A. Shariff, J. Bonnefon, and I. Rahwan).

The Church, intensive kinship, and global psychological variation (2019) Science, 366 (6466) (with D. Bahrami-Rad, J. Beauchamp and J. Henrich). Selected Media: Washington Post, Washington Post Opinion, Newsweek, The Economist, New York Times, Telegraph, NPR, Scientific American, Science Magazine, Science Podcast, FAZ I, FAZ II, NZZ, Focus, Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Time Replication Data: click here

Time pressure increases honesty in a sender-receiver deception game (2019). Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics 79, 93-99 (with V. Capraro and D. Rand).

The moral machine experiment (2018). Nature, 563, 59-64, (with A. Edmond, S. Dsouza, R. Kim, J. Henrich, A. Shariff, J. Bonnefon, and I. Rahwan). Selected Media: The Economist, Washington Post, The New Yorker, BBC, The Guardian, Scientific America, WIRED, Spiegel, Le Monde

Nudging generosity: choice architecture and cognitive factors in charitable giving (2018). Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 74, 139-145, (with P. Thiemann and C. Thöni). Media: Third Sector

Intrinsic honesty and the prevalence of rule violations across societies (2016). Nature, 531, 496-499, (with S. Gächter). Selected Media: The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Science Magazine, Observer, Ars Technica, Spiegel. News and Views by Shaul Shalvi.

Overconfidence and career choice (2015). PLoS ONE, 11(1), e0145126, (with C. Thöni). Selected Media: The Independent, Real Clear Science, Vocativ, Bustle, The Boar, Mother Jones

Affect and fairness: Dictator games under cognitive load (2014). Journal of Economic Psychology, 41, 77-87, (with U. Fischbacher, C. Thöni and V. Utikal).

Grants and Fellowships

Royal Economic Society Price for Best Paper 'Kin networks and institutional development' published in The Economic Journal

Emergent Venture Fellow

“Institutional legacy and interventions for cultural change: the role of pre-existing conditions for public policies effectiveness”, Cultural Evolution Society Transformation Grant, 2022 (£100K, CO-I with Macro Fabbri (PI) and Daniele Nosenzo)

“Religion, Family Structure and the Origins of Individual Freedom and
Economic Prosperity”, John Templeton Foundation, 2021 ($2.54 mio., Co-PI with Joseph Henrich)

“Honesty as a Moral Currency: a Cross-Cultural Study”, Honesty Project at Wake Forest University & John Templeton Foundation, 2021 ($200k, Co-PI with Ori Weisel (PI) and Shaul Shalvi)

In the Media

For an introduction to my research, listen to my conversation on the game changer podcast.

Surname Diversity, Social Ties, and Innovation: forbes

The Church, Intensive Kinship and Global Psychological Variation: Washington Post, Washington Post Opinion, Newsweek, The Economist, New York Times, Telegraph, NPR, Scientific American, Science Magazine, Science Podcast, FAZ I, FAZ II, NZZ, Focus, Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Time, ...

Moral Machine: The Economist, Washington Post, The New Yorker, BBC, The Guardian, Scientific America, WIRED, Spiegel, Le Monde, ...

Kin networks and Institutional Development: Marginal Revolution, Boston Globe, The American Conservative, Royal Economic Society press release,

Intrinsic Honesty across Societies: The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Science Magazine, Observer, Ars Technica, Spiegel. News and Views by Shaul Shalvi,...

Overconfidence and Career Choice: The Independent, Matt Townsend Show [Interview], Real Clear Science, Vocativ, Bustle, The Boar

Nudging Generosity: Third Sector

Dissertations Supervised

James Duggan, From First Use to First Treatment: An Examination of the Path from Use Initiation to Treatment-Seeking for Heroin Users Across the U.S. over the Period 2000-2019 (2025)