Five Questions with Professor Joshua Dean about KU and Career

Joshua Dean, a member of the first Global Scholars Cohort in 2011, was promoted last year to associate professor of Behavioral Science and Economics in the Booth School of Business at the  University of Chicago. His research focuses on applying psychological insights to important economic problems, particularly in development economics. Better understanding stress, bias, and other factors will enable leaders to craft more successful the economic policies. 

At KU, Dean majored in economics, mathematics and political science and studied abroad in Ghana with the help of the Global Scholars Scholarship. Dean went on to earn a PhD in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018. The following year he became an assistant professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

 1. How did Global Scholars impact your time at KU and beyond?

Global Scholars provided a valuable community of similarly interested students. We could all talk about our experiences and learn from each other while figuring out exactly what we wanted to do with our lives going forward.

2.What would you recommend for Global Scholars looking to build international careers?

Practice being flexible and getting comfortable with your own discomfort. You'll often feel unsure of how to act in a situation, and you'll have to feel your way through it. That discomfort isn't a sign that something's gone wrong. It's just part of learning how a new place or community works, and there's no way around it. The sooner you get used to feeling a little lost, the faster you'll start to adjust.

The other thing I'd say is that most of what you learn comes from ordinary, day-to-day practice, not any big revelation or lesson. It's the experience of getting around, meeting people, and handling a normal day in a place you don't really understand yet. If you lean into that instead of holding back from it, you'll come away knowing more about how a place works, and you'll build the kind of adaptability that stays useful no matter what you do next. Being able to drop into an unfamiliar situation and figure it out is one of the most valuable things you get from working internationally

3. How does our global interdependence impact your teaching?

I work with colleagues and field partners from all over the world. As an example, one recent paper is a collaboration between me, a Dutch co-author, a research assistant from China, and a research team in Kenya. The research we do together relies on our ability to communicate and collaborate.

My students come from all over too, and they show up with very different ideas about how economies and societies work. A lot of my job is helping them see that the questions we study, like why some places are poor or how people make decisions, are best understood with evidence from around the globe. Economics itself is also global. What happens in one place affects everyone else. Having lived and worked in a few different places myself, I try to bring that into how I teach, so students come away able to think beyond just their own personal experience.

4. How did you decide on your research focus and academia?

I don’t know that I ever really sat down and made a single decision that led me here. It was just a series of decisions following one instinct at a time. I was interested in understanding global poverty so that led to studying economics. I wanted to keep improving my understanding, so I went to get my PhD. Along the way, I found out I was also interested in understanding how people make decisions, and that led to my current research projects.

5. What were some of the most meaningful parts of your study abroad in Ghana?

The most meaningful parts of my time in Ghana were the everyday experiences (going to class, eating in the university cafeteria, meeting new people, etc.). Rather than any particular defining event, it was this consistent experience of living in a different context that helped me build both a better understanding of how life in Ghana works and the skills to adapt to new contexts, which I continue to draw on in my work.