Silver Professor of Economics Andrew Caplin was recently awarded a $997,734 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to study "Cognitive Economics at Work." Combining research from behavioral economics, psychology, and neuroscience, Caplin explained that "this grant will support research on the skills required to be productive in the workplace as human-machine interactions become increasingly important."
He continued, "with this funding we will study the skills that matter in the workplace today and in the future, using state-of-the-art methods of measurement and modeling. The grant is designed to better understand what skills are required to adapt and integrate AI tools into work processes, making workers more productive and efficient. It will also investigate how these skills can be taught." Additionally, the grant will fund workshops, conferences, and a steering committee, as well as the development of resources for students and researchers looking to further investigate this work.
In June 2023, Caplin's newest book Science of Mistakes was published by World Scientific Press detailing what constitutes a mistake, the economics of choice, and the applications of this information to machine learning and data engineering. Caplin shows how advances in this science will yield a better understanding of the skills that play a role in lifetime earnings. He reflects, "Cognitive Economics at Work shows up at work every day even if we don't notice. As AI evolves, this research will become helpful to navigate how to work with AI and how humans and AI may collaborate going forward."
Cognitive Economics is very broadly applicable. It focuses on the impact of constraints on understanding not only on productivity and earnings in the workplace, but also on financial decisions and consumer behavior. Professor Caplin has been spearheading Cognitive Economic research for many years, supported by earlier grants from the Sloan and NOMIS Foundations. He also leads a long-running seminar at NYU that has played a foundational role in interdisciplinary advancement.