John List is an economist at the University of Chicago.

I go out and run field experiments in the real world.

You've probably heard List on our show before.

Here are some of the questions he's tried to answer using field experiments.

Why do people discriminate against one another?

Why do women earn less pay than men in labor markets?

How do we convince people to work harder on the job?

How do we convince people to pay their taxes on time?

OK, so the following story took place in early 2017.

So picture this.

I get in an Uber car to go give a keynote panel

addressed at the American Economic Association meetings.

The A.E.A meetings were in Chicago that year.

Very convenient for John List.

All he's got to do is get from his house

to the hotel where he's giving his keynote.

So I get in the back of the car, and it says

I'm going to be there in 27 minutes.

So I go into my own land of working on my slides,

because of course I'm doing things at the last minute.

So I lose track of time.

I look back up about 25 minutes later,

...