Kota Saito

Professor of Economics

B.A., Keio University, 2005.
M.A., University of Tokyo, 2007.
PhD., Northwestern University, 2011.

The goal of my research is to study individual decision making. My main focus is in decision theory, developing mathematical models of decision making that account for some of the behavioral regularities documented in experimental economics and psychology.

I am currently working on the application of decision theory to empirical studies, especially discrete choice analysis. Click here to read my full profile.

News (Oct, 6, 2025)

"Random utility models with Unobservable Alternatives" (joint with Alec Sandroni and Haruki Kono) is now conditionally accepted at American Economic Review. For the presentation of the paper: see the following link video.
My coauthors and I are finished a new paper "Random Utility with Aggregation" (joint with Yuexin Liao and Alec Sandroni).
My coauthors and I are finished a paper "Did Harold Zuercher Have Time-Separable Preferences?" (joint with Jay Lu, Yao Luo, and Yi Xin).
I am seeking a Research Assistant and have revised the details for the RA and SURF opportunities. Alec Sandroni collaborated with me through SURF for four years before joining MIT as a graduate student. More recently, Yuexin Liao, a senior mathematics student at Caltech, became part of our team.