Jonathan Zinman

Jonathan Zinman is the R. Stephen Cheheyl Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College, affiliated with the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding. He holds academic advisory roles at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and is a research affiliate with J-PAL, NBER, and ideas42. His work bridges behavioral economics and household finance, focusing on consumer decision-making, financial product design, and policy applications. Zinman earned his B.A. from Harvard College and Ph.D. from MIT.

Research emphasizes experimental methodologies to study lender-consumer interactions, financial inclusion, and behavioral biases. He collaborates with global policymakers (e.g., CFPB, Federal Reserve) and private-sector firms to design interventions improving financial outcomes. Key areas include microfinance, payment systems, and financial literacy. Teaching includes undergraduate finance courses emphasizing real-world applications and behavioral economics frameworks.

Notable contributions include seminal work on payday lending dynamics, savings behavior interventions, and measurement of consumer decision-making heterogeneity. His work appears in top journals like Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Finance, and Nature.