RESEARCH

WORKING PAPERS:​  
  • "Cooperation & Competition in Monogamous and Polygynous Households: Experimental Evidence from Sierra Leone." Monique Borgerhoff Mulder , Alessandra Cassar, Bethany Gerdemann, Cristina Moya. Working Paper 2024.
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PUBLICATIONS:
  • "Maternal depression as catalyst for cooperation: evidence from Uganda." Alessandra Cassar, Patricia H. Schneider, Chukwuemeka Ugwu.   Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming, 2024.

  • "Mothers, fathers, and others: Competition and cooperation in the aftermath of conflict." Alessandra Cassar, Pauline Grosjean, and Fatima Jamal Khan. Alessandra Cassar, Pauline Grosjean, Fatima Jamal Khan, Miranda Lambert. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Volume 215, Pages 207-223, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2023.09.007.

  • “Sustaining the potential for cooperation as female competitive strategy.” Alessandra Cassar and Mary L. Rigdon. Philosophical Transactions B, 378 (1868), 2023. http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0440
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  • "Option to Cooperate Increases Women's Competitiveness and Closes the Gender Gap." Alessandra Cassar & Mary Rigdon. Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 42, Issue 6, Pages 556-572, November 2021. 
 
  • “Raising Achievement Among Microentrepreneurs: An Experimental Test of Goals, Incentives, and Support Groups in Medellin, Colombia”. Paulina Aguinaga, Alessandra Cassar, Jennifer Graham, Lauren Skora, and Bruce Wydick. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Volume 161, Pages 79-97, 2019.
 
  • "War Increases Religiosity". Joseph Henrich, Michal Bauer, Alessandra Cassar, Julie Chytilová, & Benjamin Grant Purzycki. Nature Human Behaviour, Vol. 3, 129–135, 2019.
 
  • “Financial exclusion in developed countries: a field experiment among migrants and low-income people in Italy”. Giorgia Barboni, Alessandra Cassar, Timothee Demont. Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Vol. 1, No. 2, 39-49, 2017.
 
  • “Trust, Risk, and Time Preferences After a Natural Disaster: Experimental Evidence from Thailand”. Alessandra Cassar, Andrew Healy and Carl von Kessler. World Development (2017) Vol. 94, pp. 90–105.
 
  • “Gender, Behavior, and Women’s Economic Empowerment“ CGD Background Paper. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development. Alessandra Cassar and Elizabeth Katz. 2016.
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  •  “Institutional Quality, Culture, and Norms of Cooperation: Experimental Evidence from Italy and Kosovo”. Alessandra Cassar, Giovanna D’Adda and Pauline Grosjean. Forthcoming, Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 57, 2014.
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  •  “Violence, Conflict-Related.” Alessandra Cassar, Pauline Grosjean and Sam Whitt. Forthcoming, Encyclopedia of Law and Economics edited by Jürgen Backhaus. id: 438460.
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  • “Cheating in Markets: A Laboratory Investigation.” Alessandra Cassar, Daniel Friedman and Patricia Higino Schneider. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol. 72(1) 240-259, 2009.
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  • “Spillovers and Growth in a Local Interaction Model.” Alessandra Cassar and Rosella Nicolini. The Annals of Regional Science, Vol. 42(2), 2008.
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  • “The Effect of Social Capital on Group Loan Repayment: Evidence from Field Experiments.” Alessandra Cassar, Lucas Crowley and Bruce Wydick. The Economic Journal, Vol. 117, Issue 517, F85, 2007.
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  • “Coordination and Cooperation in Local, Random and Small World Networks: Experimental Evidence.” Alessandra Cassar. Games and Economic Behavior, Vol. 58(2) 209-230, 2007.
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  • Economics Lab: An Intensive Course in Experimental Economics - by Daniel Friedman and Alessandra Cassar with contributions from Reinhard Selten and others. Routledge Advances in Experimental & Computable Economics, Routledge, 2004.
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  • “Contagion of Financial Crises under Local and Global Networks.” Alessandra Cassar and Nigel Duffy. In Agent-Based Methods in Economics and Finance: Simulations in Swarm, edited by Francesco Luna and Alessandro Perrone, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001.

WORK IN PROGRESS:
  • Cooperation and Competition among Monogamous and Polygynous Households in Sierra Leone.
  • Improvement in Sanitary Products for Menstruation and Female Outcomes.
  • Effects of Quality Health Care and Support Networks on Maternal and Children Outcomes in Uganda.
  • Supporting Women's Economic Entrepreneurship in Abuja, Nigeria: An Economic Experiment.
 
GRANTS:
  • 2019-2022. 3-year grant from the NSF (National Science Foundation) grant titled: “Gender Differences in Willingness to Compete – Incentive Mechanism Effects” in collaboration with Mary Rigdon.
  • 2017. Charles Koch Foundation grant titled: “Improvement in Sanitary Products for Menstruation and Female Outcomes” to support fieldwork in Nepal.
  • 2016. Charles Koch Foundation grant titled: “Improving Education in Disadvantaged Communities and Decreasing the Gender Gap” to support fieldwork in Colombia, Bosnia, and Togo.
  • 2013. Levis Strauss Foundation grant for the project: “Financial Inclusion in a Developed Country: An Experiment about Formal Savings in Italy.”
  • 2012. Charles Koch Foundation grant to support students’ research for a project in Zimbabwe and Zambia titled: “Managing Risk through Social Networks in Zimbabwe.”
  • 2011. Grant from Title VIII/Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research for the project: “Culture, Institutions and Economic Exchange:  Experimental evidence from Kosovo” in collaboration with Pauline Grosjean.
  • 2010. Grant from Title VIII/Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research for “Democracy, Violence, Trust and Economic Preferences: An Empirical Investigation in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan” in collaboration with Pauline Grosjean.
  • 2004-2008. Grant from the NSF (National Science Foundation) for “A Laboratory Investigation of Networked Markets.” Alessandra Cassar, Daniel Friedman and Patricia Higino Schneider.
  • REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) supplemental funds from National Science Foundation to support undergraduate students.
  • Funds from the University of San Francisco Faculty Development Funds 2004 – present.
  • 2002. Grant from University of California, Santa Cruz for experiments on Social Networks in International Trade.
  • 1998-1999. STAR and GSA research grant from University of California, Santa Cruz for experiments on Cooperation and Coordination with Local Interactions.
 
MISCELLANEA:
  • “An Electronic Calendar Auction.” Alessandra Cassar and Daniel Friedman. White Paper commissioned by OneDayFree, 2000.
  • Modelli Teorici e Tests Empirici della Relazione tra Tassi di Cambio e Prezzi all'Esportazione. Alessandra Cassar. 1996 Prize “Luigi Casati” by Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei for Best Undergraduate Thesis.
 
DISSERTATION:
  • Title: Local, Random, and Small-World Networks: Economic Consequences for Coordination, Cooperation, and Contagion. September 2001. Principal Advisor: Professor Daniel Friedman.