Silvia Saccardo

Associate Professor
Ph.D. in Management

Bio

Silvia is an associate professor in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. She joined CMU in 2016, after completing a Ph.D. in Management at the Rady School of Management, University of California San Diego. Silvia was born in Schio, Italy and received a Bachelor and Masters of Arts degree in Psychology with the distinction summa cum laude, both from the University of Padova, Italy. Prior to graduate school, she spent two years as visiting student at the University of California, Santa Barbara and University of California, San Diego. Silvia teaches courses in Negotiation and Behavioral Economics in Organizations at CMU, and she is a co-organizer of the Early-Career Behavioral Economics conference (ECBE).

Research

Silvia studies topics at the intersection of economics and psychology using experimental methods. She is particularly interested in understanding how motivated cognition shapes the prevalence of (un)ethical decision-making, focusing on corruption, dishonesty and discrimination. Some of her work in the area has explored the mechanisms through which bribes distort resource allocation, the role of self-deception in advice, how conflicts between ethical norms favor the emergence of discrimination by otherwise well-meaning individuals, and the factors that prevent people from providing honest feedback to others. She has also investigated the magnitude of the gender gap in preferences for competition. Another research interest concerns how to structure incentive programs using behavioral economics insights in order to promote desirable behavior change.

Publications

Authors are listed alphabetically. For papers that deviate from this convention: *First Author or Equal First Author, †Student Author

• Giuntella, O., Saccardo S., and Sadoff, S. Sleep: Educational Impact and Habit Formation. (No. w32550). National Bureau of Economic Research, Forthcoming at Journal of Political Economy

• Jung M.H.*, Saccardo S.*, Nelson L.D, and Gneezy, A. Forecasted Versus Actual Generosity in Image-Concern Interventions, Forthcoming at Management Science, *Equal First Author

• Galoosian A., Dai H., Croymans D., Saccardo S., Fox C., Goshgarian G, Vangala S., May F. Population Health Colorectal Cancer Screening Strategies in Adults Aged 45 to 49 Years: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Forthcoming at The Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA)

• Golman R. and Saccardo S. “May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics and Studies Exploit Our Biases and What We Can Do About It by Alex Edmans”, Forthcoming at Journal of Economic Literature

• Gneezy U., van Veldhuizen, R., and Saccardo S. 2025. An Experimental Investigation of Lobbying and Bribes, Experimental Economics, 1-13. Lead Article

• Saccardo, S.*, Dai H. *, Han M, Vangala S., Hoo J., Fujimoto J. Field Testing the Transferability of Behavioral Science Knowledge on Promoting Vaccination. 2024, Nature Human Behavior *Equal First Author

• Saccardo S. and Serra-Garcia, M. 2023. Enabling or Limiting Cognitive Flexibility? Evidence of Demand for Moral Commitment. American Economic Review, 113(2), 396-429 (Finalist for the 13th Exeter Prize in Experimental Economics, Behavioral Economics & Decision Sciences)

• Morvinsky C.*, Saccardo S., and Amir O. 2023. Mis-nudging Morality. Management Science, 69(1), 464-474

• Patel, M. *, Milkman K., Gandhi, L., Gracie H., Gromet D., Ho H., Kay, J., Lee, T., Rothschild, J, Akinola, M, Beshears, J., Bogard, J., Buttenheim, A., Chabris, C., Chapman, G., Choi, J., Dai, H., Fox, C., Goren, A., Hilchey, M., Hmurovic, J., John, L., Karlan, D., Kim, M., Laibson, D., Lamberton, C., Madrian, B., Meyer, M., Modanu, M. Nam, J., Rogers, T., Rodina, R., Saccardo, S., Shermohammed, M. Soman, D., Sparks, J., Warren, C., Weber, M., Berman, R., Evans, C., Lee, S. H, Snider, C., Tsukayama, E. Van den Bulte, C. Volpp, K., Duckworth, A. 2023. A Randomized Trial of Behavioral Nudges Delivered through Text Messages to Increase Influenza Vaccination Among Patients with an Upcoming Primary Care Visit. American Journal of Health Promotion, 37(3), 324-332.

• Golman, R., Loewenstein G., Molnar A.† and Saccardo S. 2022. The Demand for, and Avoidance of, Information. Management Science, 68(9), 6454-6476.

• Milkman, K.L. *, D. Gromet, H. Ho, J. Kay, T. Lee, P. Pandiloski, Y. Park, A. Rai, M. Bazerman, J. Beshears, L. Bonacorsi, C. Camerer, E. Chang, G. Chapman, R. Cialdini, H. Dai, L. Eskreis-Winkler, A. Fishbach, J.J. Gross, A. Horn, A. Hubbard, S.J. Jones, D. Karlan, T. Kautz, E. Kirgios, J. Klusowski, A. Kristal, R. Ladhania, G. Loewenstein, J. Ludwig, B. Mellers, S. Mullainathan, S., Saccardo S., J. Spiess, G. Suri, J.H. Talloen, J. Taxer, Y. Trope, L. Ungar, K.G. Volpp, A. Whillans, J. Zinman, A.L. Duckworth. 2021. Megastudies Improve the Impact of Applied Behavioral Science, Nature, 600, 478–483.

• Barbieri, P., Giuntella, O., Saccardo., S. Sadoff. S. 2021. Return to Normalcy? Lifestyle and Mental Health One Year into COVID-19. 2021. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 23349.

• Dai H.*, Saccardo S.*, Han M, Roh, L., Raja N., Vangala S., Modi H., Pandya S., Croymans D. 2021. Behavioural Nudges Increase COVID-19 Vaccinations. Nature, 597(7876), 404-409 *Equal First Author (Top 10 Clinincal Research Publications of 2021 selected by the Clinical Research Forum, Featured in the Better Marketing for a Better World Forum at the Association for Consumer Research Conference 2021)

• Giuntella, O., Hyde, K.†, Saccardo, S., Sadoff, S. 2021. Lifestyle Disruptions and Mental Health During Covid-19. 2021. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(9).

• Milkman K.*, Patel., M., Gandhi L., H. Graci, D. Gromet, H. Ho, J. Kay, T. Lee, M. Akinola, J. Beshears, J.E. Bogard, A. Buttenheim, C.Chabris, G. Chapman, J. Choi, H. Dai, C. Fox, A. Goren, M. Hilchey, J. Hmurovic, L. John, D. Karlan, M. Kim, D. Laibson, C. Lamberton, B. Madrian, M. Meyer, M. Modanu, J. Nam, T. Rogers, R. Rondina, S. Saccardo, M. Shermohammed, D. Soman, J. Sparks, C. Warren, M. Weber, R. Berman, C. Evans, C. Snider, E. Tsukayama, C. Van den Bulte, K. Volpp K., Duckworth A. 2021. A Megastudy of Text-Based Nudges Encouraging Patients to Get Vaccinated at an Upcoming Doctor’s Appointment, 118 (20), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(9), e2016632118.

• Saccardo, S.*, Li, C.†, Samek, A., and Gneezy, A. 2021. Nudging Generosity in Consumer Elective Pricing, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 163, 91-104, Part of the Special Issue on Nudges and Choice Architecture.

• Gneezy. U. Saccardo. S., Serra-Garcia, M. and van Veldhuizen, R. 2020. Bribing the Self. Games and Economic Behavior, 20(3), 311-324.

• Gneezy, U., Saccardo, S. and van Veldhuizen, R., 2019. Bribery: Behavioral Drivers of Distorted Decisions. Journal of the European Economic Association, 17(3), 917-946.

• Alempaki, D., Doğan, G. and Saccardo, S., 2019. Deception and Reciprocity. Experimental Economics, 22(4), 980-1001.

• Saccardo, S.*, Pietrasz., A., and Uri Gneezy. 2018. On the Size of the Gender Difference in competitiveness. Management Science 64(4), 1541-1554.

• Gneezy, U., Gravert, C., Saccardo, S. and Tausch, F., 2017. A Must Lie Situation–Avoiding giving negative feedback. Games and Economic Behavior, 102, 445-454.

Working Papers

• Imas, A., Jung, M. H., Saccardo, S., & Vosgerau, J. 2024. The Impact of Joint versus Separate Prediction Mode on Forecasting Accuracy (No. w30611). National Bureau of Economic Research, invited revision at Management Science

• Brody I. †, Dai. H., Saccardo S., Gromet D., Patel., M., Duckworth, A., Milkman K., 2025 Targeting Behavioral Interventions Based on Baseline Motivation Increases Vaccine Uptake, invited revision at Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
• Chang J. †, Saccardo S., and Gallus J. 2025. Leaning in Softly: On Gender and Self-Promotion. Available at SSRN: 5240652, invited revision at Journal of Political Economy: Microeconomics
• Saccardo, S.*, Dai H. *, Han M, Raja N., Vangala S., Croymans D. 2025 Scaling Nudges: Who Moves and How. *Equal First Author, Latest version available
• Gneezy U. Chew B., Doctor J., Gneezy A., Kessler J., Loewenstein G., Marechal M., Milkman K., Saccardo S., Sadoff S., Serra-Garcia M., Steinhubl S., Sydnor J., Volpp K., Wellsjo Al., Wong J. Zhang W. 2025. “Open Questions in Behavioral Health Economics” under review
• Barron K., Kajackaite A., and Saccardo S. 2023. Image Concerns and lying behavior, under review. 28. Permut, S.†, Saccardo S., Chapman G. 2024. How Researchers Use Open Science. Working paper, new version available
• Permut S.*†, Saccardo S., and Chapman G. 2025 Signals of Virtue: Unintended Effects of Recognizing Ethical Conduct, Available on SSRN: 4352939
• Arellano J.*†, Saccardo S., and Chapman G. 2025. Believability of Social Norms Messages Affect Vaccination Intentions, Working Paper available upon request
• Chang J.*† _and Saccardo S. 2025. A comment on “A field study on the impacts of workplace diversity on the recruitment of minority groups" Reproduction report prepared for Nature Human Behavior & the Institute of Replication.
• Permut S. †*, Saccardo S.*, Downs, J., and Loewenstein, G. 2021. Near-Miss Deterrence: Incorporating Near-Miss effects into Deterrence Theory. Working paper. Available at SSRN: 3823416 
• Saccardo S.*, Laske K.*, and Gneezy U. Do Fines Deter Lying? Varying the Size and Probability of Punishment. Working paper Available at SSRN: 3157387