Devin Pope

Devin Pope

Behavioural economist and co-author, with Nicola Lacetera and Justin Sydnor, of the 2012 American Economic Review paper on odometer readings and used-car prices.

Who they are

Devin G. Pope is the second author of the 2012 paper on heuristic thinking and limited attention in the car market. The working-paper version, NBER Working Paper 17030 (May 2011), states that part of the research was carried out while he was at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Key papers

Lacetera, N., Pope, D. G., & Sydnor, J. R. (2012). Heuristic thinking and limited attention in the car market. American Economic Review, 102(5), 2206-2236. doi:10.1257/aer.102.5.2206

Key ideas

The paper reports that sale prices of used cars drop discontinuously when the odometer crosses 10,000-mile thresholds, which the authors attribute to left-digit bias among final customers. See The Left-Digit Effect.

Sources

  1. Lacetera, N., Pope, D. G., & Sydnor, J. R. (2012). Heuristic thinking and limited attention in the car market. American Economic Review, 102(5), 2206-2236. doi:10.1257/aer.102.5.2206
  2. NBER Working Paper 17030, Lacetera, Pope and Sydnor, May 2011.