I am a Professor of Public Policy at Duke University and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) . My research interests are in the areas of financial economics, household finance, inequality, behavioral finance, and applied microeconomics centering on issues involving financial decision making behavior and financial markets. I explore questions relating to financial decision-making and household portfolio allocation with the goals of shedding light on how to better model observed behavior and helping to shape policy.

My research has been published in leading economics and finance journals. I have have the honor of testifying before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services on the gamification of finance. Further, my work has been quoted and cited in various media outlets including Barrons.com, Bloomberg.com, CNBC.com, Forbes.com, MarketWatch, NPR's Marketplace Tech, PsychologyToday.com, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Wall Street Journal.com, Yahoo! Money, the Harvard Business Review Blog, the PBS News Hour – Paul Solman's Making Sense, and the Lou Hutt Show on Sirius XM radio. I also was featured in the 2022 Netflix Documentary, "Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga."

I have served as the Chair of the Academic Research Council for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I was the founder and previous director of Cornell University’s Institute for Behavioral and Household Finance. I was a founding Co-Editor of Financial Planning Review. Additionally, I have worked as a consultant for several financial institutions including Hartford Funds Management Group, Inc. and Brighthouse Financial, Inc.

I teach economics courses at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Previously, I taught finance courses for master's and undergraduate students in Cornell University's SC Johnson College of Business. I have received two outstanding educator awards and the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching. I hold a Sc.B. degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Brown University, an M.B.A. in Finance and Strategic Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. in Economics from Brown University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Brown University. I also have held visiting fellow appointments at Princeton University and Yale University.