SBEE Seminar Series: John List

The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale 

Free copies of John List's new book, "The Voltage Effect," will be given to the first 50 in-person seminar attendees.

Abstract:
“Scale” is probably a term you’ve heard before — a buzzword amongst Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and tech start-up circles. But at its core, “to scale” simply means to achieve a desired outcome when you move from a small group — of customers, students or citizens — to a much larger one. And it’s not just for start-ups. Scaling ideas underpin all social and technological progress, since, as List says, “the innovations that change the world are those that reach the largest number of people.”

In his book, "The Voltage Effect," List reveals why some ideas take off (or scale) and why others fall flat using a mix of original research and real-world anecdotes from working with companies like Uber, Lyft and Tinder. His ideas are brought to life in this engaging presentation with actionable, science-backed take-aways for leaders, teams and organizations in all sectors looking to take their ideas to the next level.

Speaker bio:

John A. List is the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago. 

For decades, his field experimental research has focused on issues related to the inner workings of markets, the effects of various incentives schemes on market equilibria and allocations, how behavioral economics can augment the standard economic model, on early childhood education and interventions, and most recently on the gender earnings gap in the gig economy (using evidence from rideshare drivers). This has led to collaborative work with several different firms, including Lyft, Uber, United Airlines, Virgin Airlines, Humana, Sears, Kmart, Facebook, Google, General Motors, Tinder, Citadel, Walmart and several nonprofits. 

His research includes over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and several published books, including the 2013 international bestseller, "The Why Axis: Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life" (with Uri Gneezy), and "The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale" (publication date February 1, 2022). 

List was elected a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011, and a Fellow of the Econometric Society in 2015. List received the 2010 Kenneth Galbraith Award, the 2008 Arrow Prize for Senior Economists for his research in behavioral economics in the field, and was the 2012 Yrjo Jahnsson Lecture Prize recipient. He is a current editor of the Journal of Political Economy. 

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