David Comerford researches and teaches in the economics division and the Behavioural Science Centre of the University of Stirling. His research uncovers insights on how people make mistaken judgments and decisions - for instance, judgments of trends over time, judgments of expenditure, and judgments of how an experience will feel. David works with policy makers and businesses in the USA, the UK and Ireland applying his research findings to improve decision making. He is currently collaborating with the Scottish Government on a project to improve economic forecasts, and is supervising a PhD student on this topic. Media outlets that have covered David's research include the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, National Public Radio, Forbes, the Harvard Business Review. Prior to coming to Stirling David worked at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and at University College Dublin. David has won research awards from the International Association for Research in Economic Psychology, the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences Scholar, and the Fulbright Commission.
consumer decision making; survey design; biases in forecasting.
David has experience collaborating with industry bodies and policy makers. He is currently working with: NHS Lothian to help mothers stick to their breastfeeding plans; The Scottish Avalanche Information Service to improve avalanche forecasts; The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service to promote tissue retrieval.
Vaccines against AMR in Aquaculture
PI: Professor Margaret Crumlish
Funded by: International Development Research Centre
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The impact of COVID-19 Fear: evidence to inform social, health and economic recovery - a Healthy Ageing In Scotland (HAGIS) study
PI: Dr Elaine Douglas
Funded by: UK Research and Innovation
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Behavioural Science Workshop Series
PI:
Funded by: Economic and Social Research Council
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Article
Understanding Vaccine Hesitancy in Vietnamese Fish Farmers
Chambers JA, Crumlish M, Comerford DA, Phuoc L, Phuong V & O’Carroll RE (2022) Understanding Vaccine Hesitancy in Vietnamese Fish Farmers. Antibiotics, 11 (7), Art. No.: 878. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics11070878
Newspaper Article
Northern Ireland protocol row could damage good faith needed for post-Brexit trade deals
Comerford D (2022) Northern Ireland protocol row could damage good faith needed for post-Brexit trade deals. The Conversation. 21.06.2022.
Newspaper Article
Comerford D (2022) Climate change: efficiency labels really do encourage less energy use - but there's a better way of using them. The Conversation. 26.05.2022.
Technical Report
SAIS User Survey Summary Report
Ebert P & Comerford D (2022) SAIS User Survey Summary Report. Diggins M (Contact Person) Scottish Avalanche Information Services. Online: University of Stirling.
Newspaper Article
Will booking an Airbnb help Ukraine? Why people make counterproductive decisions about charity
Comerford D (2022) Will booking an Airbnb help Ukraine? Why people make counterproductive decisions about charity. The Conversation. 10.03.2022.
Article
Comerford DA & Lades LK (2022) Responsibility utility and the difference between preference and desirance: implications for welfare evaluation. Social Choice and Welfare, 58 (2), pp. 201-224. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00355-021-01352-9
Working Paper
Validation of the Worries Emerging from the Covid-19 Pandemic (WECP) Scale
Comerford D, Olivarius O, Bell D & Douglas E (2022) Validation of the Worries Emerging from the Covid-19 Pandemic (WECP) Scale.
Article
Leveraging the motivational effects of labels: Lessons from retrofitting
Comerford DA, Moro M, Sejas-Portillo R & Stowasser T (2021) Leveraging the motivational effects of labels: Lessons from retrofitting. Behavioral Science and Policy, 7 (2), pp. 17-25. https://doi.org/10.1353/bsp.2021.0010
Article
Effect of obstacles/tips card on breastfeeding drop-off
Comerford DA & McGillivray T (2021) Effect of obstacles/tips card on breastfeeding drop-off. British Journal of Midwifery, 29 (9), pp. 510-515. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjom.2021.29.9.510
Newspaper Article
Breastfeeding is tough: new research shows how to make it more manageable
Comerford D (2021) Breastfeeding is tough: new research shows how to make it more manageable. The Conversation. 15.10.2021.
Newspaper Article
Comerford D (2021) Climate change: convincing people to pay to tackle it is hard - treating it like a pension could help. The Conversation. 05.10.2021.
Newspaper Article
Exposure of faked dishonesty study makes me proud to be a behavioural scientist
Comerford D (2021) Exposure of faked dishonesty study makes me proud to be a behavioural scientist. The Conversation. 08.09.2021.
Newspaper Article
Women may not be more pessimistic than men after all - why that matters for the gender pay gap
Comerford D (2021) Women may not be more pessimistic than men after all - why that matters for the gender pay gap. The Conversation. 20.08.2021.
Article
Comerford DA (2021) Apparent age and gender differences in survival optimism: To what extent are they a bias in the translation of beliefs onto a percentage scale?. Judgment and Decision Making, 16 (4), pp. 1072-1096. http://journal.sjdm.org/21/210219/jdm210219.html
Conference Proceeding
Douglas E, Bell DNF, Comerford D, McCabe L, Pemble C, McGregor L & Brown T (2021) The Impact of COVID-19 Fear: Evidence To Inform Social, Health And Economic Recovery - A Healthy Ageing In Scotland (HAGIS) Study. In: Ageing Past, Present and Future: Innovation and Change. British Society of Gerontology 50th Annual Conference, Online, 07.07.2021-09.07.2021. Hampshire: British Society of Gerontology, p. 165. https://www.britishgerontology.org/public/31949/BSG_Conference_Book_2021_Online_v2.pdf
Newspaper Article
Reparations for slavery and colonial abuses: how behavioural science can help
Comerford D (2021) Reparations for slavery and colonial abuses: how behavioural science can help. The Conversation. 28.05.2021.
Newspaper Article
New EU carbon tax: wrong rate could wreck net-zero goals – but right rate can help world’s poor
Comerford D (2021) New EU carbon tax: wrong rate could wreck net-zero goals – but right rate can help world’s poor. The Conversation. 25.05.2021.
Working Paper
Comerford D, Olivarius O, Dawson A, Brown T, Bell D, McGregor L, Pemble C, McCabe L & Douglas E (2021) Did Negative News Regarding the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine end in Vaccine Hesitancy? A Repeated Cross-Section Event Study from the UK.
Website Content
AstraZeneca suspension increased concern but did not change vaccination intentions in UK
Comerford D (2021) AstraZeneca suspension increased concern but did not change vaccination intentions in UK. University of Stirling Public Policy Blog [Blog post] 26.03.2021. https://policyblog.stir.ac.uk/2021/03/26/astrazeneca-suspension-increased-concern-but-did-not-change-vaccination-intentions-in-uk/
Other
Dawson A, Pemble C, Brown T, Comerford D, Olivarius O, McGregor L, Bell D & Douglas E (2021) A rapid review of the development and validation of instruments specifically designed to assess or measure 'COVID-19 fear'. PROSPERO 2021, CRD42021250233. https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021250233
Newspaper Article
How to manage family expectations and avoid breaking rules this Christmas
Comerford D, Douglas E & Olivarius O (2020) How to manage family expectations and avoid breaking rules this Christmas. The Conversation. 22.12.2020.
Newspaper Article
COVID-19 vaccine: how the 'mum test' can help ensure take-up
Comerford D (2020) COVID-19 vaccine: how the 'mum test' can help ensure take-up. The Conversation. 13.11.2020.
Book Review
Comerford DA (2020) Review of A Fast and Frugal Finance: Bridging Contemporary Behavioral Finance and Ecological Rationality by William P. Forbes, Aloysius Obinna Igboekwu, & Shabnam Mousavi. Journal of Economic Psychology, 80, Art. No.: 102278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2020.102278
Newspaper Article
Local lockdown funding negotiations: what UK government should learn from behavioural economists
Comerford D (2020) Local lockdown funding negotiations: what UK government should learn from behavioural economists. The Conversation. 23.10.2020.
Article
Robinson J & Comerford DA (2020) The Effect on Annuities Preference of Prompts to Consider Life Expectancy: Evidence from a UK Quota Sample. Economica, 87 (347), pp. 747-762. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecca.12326
Article
Chambers JA, Crumlish M, Comerford DA & O'Carroll RE (2020) Antimicrobial Resistance in Humans and Animals: Rapid Review of Psychological and Behavioral Determinants. Antibiotics, 9 (6), Art. No.: 285. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics9060285
Article
Bell D, Comerford D & Douglas E (2020) How Do Subjective Life Expectancies Compare with Mortality Tables? Similarities and Differences in Three National Samples. Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 16, Art. No.: 100241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeoa.2020.100241
Newspaper Article
Seeing a daily coronavirus death toll might actually make us take more risks
Comerford D & McCabe S (2020) Seeing a daily coronavirus death toll might actually make us take more risks. The Conversation. 08.04.2020.
Newspaper Article
Coronavirus should give us hope that we are able to tackle the climate crisis
Comerford D (2020) Coronavirus should give us hope that we are able to tackle the climate crisis. The Conversation. 09.03.2020.
Newspaper Article
How behavioural science could help us reach zero emissions
Comerford D (2020) How behavioural science could help us reach zero emissions. The Conversation. 24.01.2020.
Newspaper Article
Many over-55s can't cope with pension freedoms - it may now be time to scrap them
Comerford D (2019) Many over-55s can't cope with pension freedoms - it may now be time to scrap them. The Conversation. 25.11.2019.
Article
Comerford DA (2019) Asking for frequencies rather than percentages increases the validity of subjective probability measures: Evidence from subjective life expectancy. Economics Letters, 180, pp. 33-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2019.04.001
Article
Proof of concept that requiring energy labels for dwellings can induce retrofitting
Comerford DA, Lange I & Moro M (2018) Proof of concept that requiring energy labels for dwellings can induce retrofitting. Energy Economics, 69, pp. 204-212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2017.11.013
Article
Comerford DA & Robinson J (2017) Die-by Framing both Lengthens and Shortens Life: Further Evidence on Constructed Beliefs in Life Expectancy. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 30 (5), pp. 1104-1112. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.2027
Article
Healthcare.gov 3.0 - Behavioral economics and insurance exchanges
Ubel PA, Comerford DA & Johnson E (2015) Healthcare.gov 3.0 - Behavioral economics and insurance exchanges. New England Journal of Medicine, 372 (8), pp. 695-698. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1414771
Article
Effort Aversion: Job choice and compensation decisions overweight effort
Comerford DA & Ubel PA (2013) Effort Aversion: Job choice and compensation decisions overweight effort. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 92, pp. 152-162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2013.05.016
Article
Angott AM, Comerford DA & Ubel PA (2013) Imagining life with an ostomy: Does a video intervention improve quality-of-life predictions for a medical condition that may elicit disgust?. Patient Education and Counseling, 91 (1), pp. 113-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2012.10.015
Article
Comerford DA (2011) Attenuating focalism in affective forecasts of the commuting experience: Implications for economic decisions and policy making. Journal of Economic Psychology, 32 (5), pp. 691-699. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2011.06.005
Article
Experimental tests of survey responses to expenditure questions
Comerford DA, Delaney L & Harmon C (2009) Experimental tests of survey responses to expenditure questions. Fiscal Studies, 30 (3-4), pp. 419-433. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-5890.2009.00102.x
