Time is Knowledge: What Response Times Reveal by Shou Liu

Join us for this joint event in the Microeconomics and Behavioural, Experimental, and Development Economics Research Seminar Series, Spring Term 2026.

Shou Liu, from Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, will present this week's Microeconomics Seminar on Time is Knowledge: What Response Times Reveal.

Abstract

Response times contain information about economically relevant but unobserved variables like willingness to pay, preference intensity, quality, or happiness. We provide a general characterization of the properties of latent variables that can be detected using response time data. Our theoretical framework unifies and generalizes results in the literature and gives rise to many new applications. We illustrate the rich insights that the method can deliver through several empirical applications: revealed preference analysis, identifying an optimal nudge, testing decreasing marginal happiness of income, and predicting treatment heterogeneity

This seminar will be held in the Economics Common Room on Thursday 12 March at 11.00am. This event is open to all levels of study and is also open to the public.

To register your place and gain access to the webinar, please contact the seminar organisers.

This event is part of the Microeconomics Research Seminar Series.