Bio
I am a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at the Graduate School of Economics, Finance, and Management at Goethe University Frankfurt.
My research interests lie in behavioral and experimental economics, with a focus on the cognitive foundations of economic decision-making, in particular the role of memory, mental representation, and communication in information processing and belief formation.
Curriculum Vitae (Updated November 2026)
How to pronounce my name
Email: zhuokun.liu@econ.uni-frankfurt.de
Address:
Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 4
Goethe University Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main, 60323
Germany
Working Papers
From Individual Information to Group Beliefs: Memory, Aggregation, and Stereotype Persistence
(with Huen Tat Au-Yeung)
Abstract (click to expand): We study why individual information that contradicts stereotypes may have a limited influence on group beliefs. We distinguish two cognitive frictions: imperfect memory of individual performance and imperfect aggregation of individual assessments into group assessments. In two online experiments, subjects graded students on a car-knowledge quiz and reported their predicted and recalled performance, individually and by gender. We randomly vary access to grading records to manipulate reliance on memory. When women outperform men, hiding records makes group predictions more male-favoring. Yet making records available does not ensure that group assessments reflect all individual information equally. Even with visible records, directly reported group predictions and recall imply more male-favoring gender gaps than those aggregated from individual assessments. This wedge suggests information reflected in individual assessments may not be aggregated accurately in group assessments. To facilitate aggregation, we test an intervention that first elicits all individual predictions and displays them when subjects make group predictions. When within-gender performance variation is low, this intervention offsets 67% of the effect of hiding records on the gender gap from directly reported group predictions.
Communication and the Polarization of Trust Attitudes
(with Ferdinand von Siemens)
Abstract (click to expand): Many economic interactions require trust, and judgments about whether to trust are often formed in conversation with peers. We study whether this social process polarizes trust. In an online experiment, we randomly vary whether trustors communicate with another trustor before or after making decisions in separate trust games. Chat partners make individual choices and have independent payoffs. Our results show that communication reduces the variation in trust within, while increasing trust differencesbetween the chat groups, thus leading to a polarization of trust cultures. We further find that groups that develop strong positive trust cultures focus in their discussions on both moral principles and self-interest. Our findings identify peer communication as a source of distinct local trust cultures: willingness to trust depends not only on individual predispositions but also on the social setting in which judgments aboutothers are formed.
Misleading Graphs
Abstract (click to expand): Graphs can distort inference even when they display accurate numbers. In a between-subject experiment, 1,045 participants update beliefs about an unknown state after observing a signal. They receive identical information as numbers, standard bar charts, or charts with one truncated axis. Truncation raises average absolute error by 1.48 percentage points, about 12 percent relative to standard charts, and increases disagreement. It also lowers the probability assigned to the state represented by the truncated chart when the observed signal is rare in that state. A two-stage model links these shifts to visual distortion of the evidence before belief updating. Structural estimates capture this directional pattern alongside a general tendency to underreact. The findings show how graphical presentation changes the use of information and reduces inference accuracy without changing the disclosed facts.
