David Schkade

Research Areas

Psychology of judgment and decision making
Measuring subjective experience
Improving decision making

Industry Areas

Public policy
Environment
Law

David Schkade specializes in the psychology of judgment and decision making, measuring subjective experience, and improving decision making.

The primary focus of Schkade’s research is on the psychology of judgment and decision making, and how decision making can be improved. His scholarly work includes over 60 published papers and two books, including his most recent, "Are Judges Political? An Empirical Analysis of the Federal Judiciary." He has studied a wide variety of issues, including the relationship between money and happiness, the design of information displays for decision making, how jurors make punitive damage decisions, the effect of ideology on the decisions of federal appellate judges, environmental resource valuation, valuation of health effects for cost-benefit analysis and why people choose to become organ donors.

Schkade''s work has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Hewlett Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Electric Power Research Institute, Exxon and IBM. He serves or has served on the editorial boards of several major journals and on review panels of the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency.

He has also served on committees of the National Academy of Sciences, most recently on organ donation, and on cost-effectiveness of federal health-related policies, programs and regulations

He has won both research and teaching awards at the University of Texas and UCSD, and was selected to Who’s Who in Economics 1990-2000. His research on punitive damages has been cited in numerous court cases, including opinions by the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals and the California State Supreme Court. His editorials, quotations and references to his work have appeared in numerous media outlets, among them The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Financial Times, LA Times, Dallas Morning News, Time Magazine, CNN, UPI, Reuters, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, and BBC.

Selected Publications

(* = reprinted one or more times)

Krueger, A. B., Kahneman, D., Schkade, D., Schwarz, N. and Stone, A. (forthcoming). National Time Accounting: The Currency of Life. University of Chicago Press.

Krueger, A. B., Kahneman, D., Fischler, C., Schkade, D., Schwarz, N. and Stone, A. (2009). Comparing Time Use and Subjective Well-Being in France and the U.S. Social Indicators Research, forthcoming.

Krueger, A. and Schkade, D. (2008). Sorting in the labor market: Do gregarious workers flock to interactive jobs? Journal of Human Resources, 43, 861-885.

Krueger, A. and Schkade, D. (2008). The reliability of subjective well being measures. Journal of Political Economics, 92, 1833-45.

Schkade, D. A., Hastie, R. & Sunstein, C. R. (2007). What happened on deliberation day? California Law Review, 95, 915-940.

Kahneman, D., Krueger, A., Schkade, D., Schwarz, N. & Stone, A. (2006). Would you be happier if you were richer? A focusing illusion. Science, 312, 1908-1910.

Sunstein, C., Schkade, D., Ellman, L. & Sawicki, A. (2006). Are Judges Political? An Empirical Analysis of the Federal Judiciary. Brookings Institution Press: Washington, D.C.

Childress, J. et al. (2006). Increasing Rates of Organ Donation. National Academies Press: Washington D.C.

Lawrence, R. et al. (2006). Valuing Health for Regulatory Cost-Effectiveness Analysis. National Academies Press: Washington D.C.

Stone, A., Schwartz, J., Schwarz, N., Schkade, D., Krueger, A. & Kahneman, D. (2006). A population approach to the study of emotion: Diurnal rhythms of a working day examined with the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM). Emotion, 6, 139-149

*Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9, 111-131.

*Kahneman, D., Krueger, A., Schkade, D., Schwarz, N. & Stone, A. (2004). A survey method for characterizing daily life experience: The Day Reconstruction Method (DRM). Science, 306, 1776-1780.

Sunstein, C. R. & Schkade D. A. (2004). A bench tilting right. The Washington Post, October 30, A19.

*Kahneman, D., Krueger, A., Schkade, D., Schwarz, N. & Stone, A. (2004). Toward national well being accounts. American Economic Review, 94, 429-434.

*Sunstein, C., Schkade D. & Ellman, L. (2004). Ideological voting on federal courts of appeals: A preliminary investigation. Virginia Law Review, 90, 101-150.

Schkade, D. & Sunstein, C. (2003). Judging by where you sit. The New York Times, June 11, A29.

Sunstein, C., Hastie, R., Payne, J., Schkade, D. & Viscusi, W. (2002). Punitive Damages: How Juries Decide. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.

*Sunstein, C., Kahneman, D., Schkade, D., & Ritov, I. (2002). Predictably incoherent judgments. Stanford Law Review, 54, 1153-1215.

*Schkade, D., Sunstein, C. & Kahneman, D. (2000). Deliberating about dollars: The severity shift. Columbia Law Review, 100, 1139-1176.

Payne, J., Schkade, D., Desvousges, W. & Aultman, C. (2000). Valuation of multiple environmental programs. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 21, 95-115.

Sunstein, C., Schkade, D. & Kahneman, D. (2000). Do people want optimal deterrence? Journal of Legal Studies, 29, 237-253.

*Payne, J., Bettman, J. & Schkade, D. A. (1999). Measuring constructed preferences: Toward a building code. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 19, 243-270.

*Kahneman, D., Ritov, I. & Schkade, D. (1999). Economic preferences or attitude expressions? An analysis of dollar responses to public issues. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 19, 220-242.

Loewenstein, G. & Schkade, D. (1999). Wouldn’t it be nice? Predicting future feelings. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener & N. Schwartz (Eds.), Well Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. Russell Sage Foundation.

*Schkade, D. & Kahneman, D. (1998). Does living in California make people happy? A focusing illusion in judgments of life satisfaction. Psychological Science, 9, 340-346.

*Sunstein, C., Kahneman, D. & Schkade, D. (1998). Assessing punitive damages. Yale Law Journal, 107, 2071-2153.

Kahneman, D., Schkade, D. & Sunstein, C. (1998). Shared outrage and erratic awards: The psychology of punitive damages. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 16, 49-86.

Hoch, S. & Schkade, D. (1996). A psychological approach to decision support systems. Management Science, 42, 51-64.

*Schkade, D. & Payne, J. (1994). How people respond to contingent valuation questions: A verbal protocol analysis of willingness to pay for an environmental regulation. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 26, 88-109.

Kleinmuntz, D. & Schkade, D. (1993). Information displays and decision processes. Psychological Science, 4, 221-227.

*Schkade, D. & Johnson, E. (1989). Cognitive processes in preference reversals. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 44, 203-231.

Johnson, E. & Schkade, D. (1989). Bias in utility assessments: Further evidence and explanations. Management Science, 35, 406-424.

*Argote, L., Goodman, P. & Schkade, D. (1983). The human side of robotics: How workers react to a robot. Sloan Management Review, 24, 31-41.