Judd Kessler is the inaugural Howard Marks Endowed Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School

Meet economist Judd Kessler

Judd Kessler is the inaugural Howard Marks Endowed Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School

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Lucky by Design: The Hidden Economics You Need to Get More of What You Want: Book Cover

In his first book, Judd illuminates the hidden markets that govern our everyday lives — how they work, how to get what you want from them, and how to make them better

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Highlights

Highlights
NYC Voters, Make Sure Your Ranked Choice Counts
NYC Voters, Make Sure Your Ranked Choice Counts

New York Daily News • June 2025

The Gender-Minority Gaps in Confidence and Self-Evaluation
The Gender-Minority Gaps in Confidence and Self-Evaluation

VOX EU • March 2024

How Did You Do?
How Did You Do?

Character Lab Research Network • May 2022

How Companies Committed to Diverse Hiring Still Fail
How Companies Committed to Diverse Hiring Still Fail

Harvard Business Review • February 2021

It Will Take a Lot More Than Diversity Training to End Racial Bias in Hiring
It Will Take a Lot More Than Diversity Training to End Racial Bias in Hiring

Los Angeles Times • July 2020

Mayor de Blasio, Bring Back Summer Jobs
Mayor de Blasio, Bring Back Summer Jobs

The New York Times • June 2020

Highlights
Improving Job Seekers’ Employment and Earnings Through Credible Skills Signals
Improving Job Seekers’ Employment and Earnings Through Credible Skills Signals

JPAL Policy Insight • November 2024

White Men Are Still Kings of the Job Market. Here’s Proof.
White Men Are Still Kings of the Job Market. Here’s Proof.

Bloomberg • July 2024

How to Revitalize Summers for Teens and Young Adults
How to Revitalize Summers for Teens and Young Adults

Washington Post • July 2023

NYC Officials Promised a Summer Youth Jobs Program Would Make the City Safer. Does It Work?
NYC Officials Promised a Summer Youth Jobs Program Would Make the City Safer. Does It Work?

Gothamist, WNYC • August 2022

Latest Podcasts

All Podcasts
Back to School: Transitioning from Summer Jobs
Back to School: Transitioning from Summer Jobs

Ripple Effect • 2024

Women & Work: Why Don't Women Promote Themselves?
Women & Work: Why Don't Women Promote Themselves?

Ripple Effect • 2023

Why Don't Women Promote Themselves?
Why Don't Women Promote Themselves?

Knowledge@Wharton • 2020

Latest Papers

Publications Home
The Gender Concealment Gap

with Christine Exley et al. 2025. (Working Paper)

Extreme Justifications Fuel Polarization

with Christiane Buschinger et al. 2025. Revise and Resubmit, Economic Journal. (Working Paper)

Increasing Organ Donor Registration as a Means to Increase Transplantation: An Experiment with Actual Organ Donor Registrations

with Alvin E. Roth. 2025. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 17 (2): 60-83.
Online Appendix

Information Frictions and Skill Signaling in the Youth Labor Market

with Sara B. Heller. 2024. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 16 (4): 1-33.
Online Appendix

Equity Concerns are Narrowly Framed

with Christine Exley. 2024. American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 16 (2): 147-179.
Online Appendix

Motivated Errors

with Christine Exley. 2024. American Economic Review, 114 (4): 961-987.
Online Appendix