I am an economist in Pittsburgh and the volunteer Research Committee Chair at Pro-Housing Pittsburgh. I completed my PhD in 2026 at the University of East Anglia. My research is in Behavioral and Experimental Economics, with a focus on how people make decisions and how we can rigorously test decision-making models in controlled settings.
A central theme of my work is social preferences—how individuals make choices that affect not only themselves, but others. I apply these tools to questions in Urban Economics and Public Policy, where my interests center on how zoning and tax policy shape housing production.
At the intersection of these areas is Behavioral Political Economy: understanding how policymakers, stakeholders, and voters respond to incentives and framing, and how these insights can be used to design zoning and tax policies that expand housing supply and improve affordability.
Writing
... works in progress and publications.
Works in Progress
A Report on Allegheny County Property Reassessments
with Connor Schwartz; Pro-Housing Pittsburgh; June 16, 2026
Understanding Context Effects in the Social Domain: Bi- and Uni-directionality (PhD thesis chapter)
solo-authored; University of East Anglia; January 29, 2026
Identifying Opposing Context Effects with Hierarchical Clustering and the McNemar Test (PhD thesis chapter)
solo-authored; University of East Anglia; January 29, 2026
Experimental Study on Context Effects in Dictator Games (PhD thesis chapter)
with Prof. Anders Poulsen; University of East Anglia; January 29, 2026
The Effects of Inclusionary Zoning on New Housing Construction in Pittsburgh
with David Vatz; Pro-Housing Pittsburgh; January 27, 2025
Study release and report
An Experimental Study of Social Dominance Orientation, Right Wing Authoritarianism, and the Public Goods Game (first year paper)
solo-authored; University of Arizona; March 25, 2019
An Experimental Study of the Envy and Generosity Games (masters thesis)
solo-authored; University of Kassel; submitted July 6, 2018; first examiner Prof. Igor Asanov, second examiner Prof. Björn Frank; mark 1.3
Published
Climatological Honorary Membership: From Abolition to Immigration (TACA 2019)
with Frederic T. Billings III and M. Stone Johnson
Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association, 130, p. 173
Pro-Housing Pittsburgh
... blog articles on housing policy and zoning in Pittsburgh.
Pro-Housing Pittsburgh Blog
➜The IZ Compromise (Oct 15, 2025) — by Jack Billings
➜You Can’t Build That Here — H.G. Imhoff House — 100 N Linden Ave (Dec 15, 2024) — by Vlad Kaplun with contributions by Jack Billings
➜You Can’t Build That Here — 3525 Beechwood Blvd (Jul 31, 2024) — by John Akey with contributions by Jack Billings
➜You Can’t Build That Here — August Wilson House (Jul 17, 2024) — by Jack Billings with contributions by Vlad Kaplun and Amy Zaiss
➜You Can’t Build That — Park View Flats (Jul 3, 2024) — by Vlad Kaplun with contributions by Jack Billings
➜Book Review: The Color of the Law (Jun 24, 2024) — by Jack Billings
➜You Can’t Build That Here — Dover Gables (Apr 25, 2024) — by Nicholas Rizzio with contributions by Jack Billings and Andrew Brown
➜Houses can touch each other! (Apr 23, 2024) — by Jack Billings with contributions by Chris Beam, Amy Zaiss, Nick Rizzio, and David Vatz
➜Does “filtering” make housing more affordable? (Apr 11, 2024) — by Jack Billings
➜Does Pittsburgh really need more housing? (Mar 17, 2024) — by Jack Billings
➜You Can’t Build That Here — 1703 Broadway (Feb 28, 2024) — by Jack Billings with contributions by Amy Zaiss and Nicholas Rizzio
➜You Can’t Build That Here — Park View Three (Feb 14, 2024) — by Jack Billings with contributions by Connor Dickey
➜You Can’t Build that Here — The School House Apartments (Jan 31, 2024) — by Jack Billings with contributions by Chris Beam and Clayton Manley
➜You Can’t Build That Here — Carson Towers (Jan 17, 2024) — by Jack Billings with contributions by John Akey, Chris Beam, and Clayton Manley
➜You Can’t Build that Here — Palm Garden Apartments (Jan 3, 2024) — by Jack Billings with contributions by Chris Beam and Clayton Manley
➜You Can’t Build That Here — Hillsboro Plaza (Dec 20, 2023) — by Jack Billings with contributions by Chris Beam and Clayton Manley
➜You Can’t Build That Here — The Eaglemoor (Dec 6, 2023) — by Jack Billings with contributions by Vlad Kaplan and Clayton Manley
➜You Can’t Build That Here — 21 Lanark St (Nov 22, 2023) — by Jack Billings with contributions by Clayton Manley
➜You Can’t Build That Here — 732–734 S. Millvale (Nov 8, 2023) — by Jack Billings with contributions by Chris Beam and Clayton Manley
➜You Can’t Build That Here — Woodlawn Apartments (Oct 25, 2023) — by Jack Billings with contributions by Clayton Manley
Research
... current research areas.
Behavioral and Experimental Economics
How people make decisions, and how we can rigorously test decision-making models in controlled laboratory settings.
Urban Economics and Public Policy
Social preferences applied to housing production, land-use, zoning, and tax policy.
Behavioral Political Economy
How policymakers, stakeholders, and voters respond to incentives and framing—and how these insights can expand housing supply and improve affordability.
Teaching
... courses I have taught and tutored.
ECO-5006A — Introductory Econometrics (Fall 2022)
University of East Anglia — Associate Tutor
ECO-4001A — Introductory Mathematics for Economics (Fall 2021)
University of East Anglia — Associate Tutor
ECON 418 — Introduction to Econometrics (Fall 2019)
University of Arizona — Teaching Assistant
ECON 382 — Labor and Public Policy (Spring 2019)
University of Arizona — Teaching Assistant
ECON 200 — Basic Economic Issues (Spring 2019)
University of Arizona — Head Teaching Assistant
ECON 332 — Intermediate Macroeconomics (Fall 2018)
University of Arizona — Teaching Assistant
ECON 435 — Public Sector Economics (Fall 2018)
University of Arizona — Teaching Assistant
Projects
... policy research and open-source tools for housing and tax analysis.
Pro-Housing Pittsburgh Website
Volunteer Research Committee Chair. Advocacy and empirical research on zoning, inclusionary housing policy, and housing supply in the Pittsburgh region.
Land Value Tax Explorer GitHub
Interactive map for exploring land value tax (LVT) policy scenarios in Allegheny County, with parcel-level visualization and policy sliders.
➜UI forked from assessments_dataviz
➜Parcel valuations from agc_assessments
Allegheny County Assessments Pipeline GitHub
Data pipeline for residential and commercial property assessments, valuation ratios, and land price analysis used in Pro-Housing Pittsburgh research and visualization tools.
Bio
I am a native and resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—a city I have a deep and abiding love for. I completed my undergraduate studies at the University of Rochester, where I double majored in Economics and Brain & Cognitive Science and minored in Mathematics. Through Rochester’s Take Five Scholars Program, I spent a fifth year studying Architecture, Technology, and Historical Structures in Medieval Italy, an experience that strongly shaped my long-term interest in cities and the built environment.
After college, I spent two years working and traveling. During this time, I worked on an organic farm in rural Michigan, in admissions at the University of Melbourne in Australia, and as a data analyst for a nonprofit organization in Boston that focused on housing the homeless. While in Boston, I became increasingly interested in pursuing graduate study in economics as a way to better understand how people make decisions—particularly in institutional and policy contexts. To prepare for this path, I completed additional mathematics coursework through Harvard Extension School and began seeking graduate programs with a strong focus on behavioral economics.
From 2016 to 2018, I completed a Master’s degree in Economic Behavior and Governance at the University of Kassel, under the supervision of Professor Igor Asanov. I began my PhD studies in Economics at the University of Arizona in 2018 before transferring to the University of East Anglia in 2020, where I lived from 2020 to 2023. I completed my PhD in 2026, under the supervision of Professor Anders Poulsen.
Education
PhD in Economics — 2026
University of East Anglia, Norwich, England
MSc in Economic Behavior and Governance — 2018
University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany
BA in Economics and Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Minor in Mathematics — 2014
University of Rochester, Rochester, New York
A note on my name
"Why do people call you 'Jack'?"
'Jack' is a common nickname for 'John' in the English language. My friends and family have all called me 'Jack' for as long as I remember.
"How is 'Jack' a nickname for 'John'? They're both one syllable and don't sound remotely similar!"
Good question! There are many theories. According to this very authoritative looking source, the Latin version of John is Johannes (which became a popular name among the English during and following the Crusades), which in Old French became Jehan, which became Jan in Middle Dutch, which in the middle of the 12th century had the common English suffix -kin added to it to become Jankin, which through French nasalization became Jackin which got shortened to Jack.
"But is your legal name 'Jack'?"
No, my name, as it appears on passports, IDs, and legal documents, is "John Howe Billings, Jr."
On academic papers, I try to consistently use "John H. Billings." For everything else, I use "Jack Billings."