Faculty Spotlight - Kegon Tan

Why did you choose economics? Why did you choose your subfield?

KT: I’ve always wanted to understand human behavior and in middle school harboured ambitions in psychology. But high school economics convinced me that economics is our best approach to that endeavour on the larger scale. As an undergraduate I got exposed to a relatively new intersection between psychology and economics in the form of non-cognitive skills using psychometric measures of personality. That married the two topics nicely and led to a long running interest in human capital, broadly defined.  

What research are you working on right now?

KT: I’m currently working on a number of crime-related papers, looking at how the criminal justice system interacts with persons in prison to influence outcomes such as recidivism and parole, both in the short term and in the long term across generations. I also have ongoing projects related to the transmission of human capital across generations through parental investments and occupational aspirations.  

What was your favorite class as an undergrad?

KT: Probably the introduction course on social and political thought, covering the ancient Greeks through to DuBois and other modern thinkers. Those ideas still shape my interest in research on inequality and mobility. 

What is your top piece of advice for your students?

KT: Do not neglect non-cognitive skills. The literature suggests they are malleable into one’s adulthood and a little more conscientiousness can go a long way.