Justine Hastings

Justine Hastings is an American economist, academic, and policy advisor. She is currently a vice president and chief of people-centered science at Amazon[1] and an affiliate professor of economics at the University of Washington.[2] Previously, she served as professor of economics and international and public affairs at Brown University,[3] and as an associate professor of economics at Yale University. Her research focuses on combining economics and big data to solve social problems, spanning topics across education policy, retirement policy, household finance, marketing, competition, antitrust, and environmental regulation.[4]

Hastings served on the Academic Research Council for the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB),[5] and on the Council of Economic Advisors to the Governor of Rhode Island.[6] She has served as a managing editor for the International Journal of Industrial Organization, and as co-editor of the Journal of Public Economics. She has also advised state and federal agencies in matters related to antitrust, energy and environmental regulation.[7]

Research led by Hastings on the importance of providing parents with information about the benefits of school choice alternatives was cited in Nudge, the 2008 New York Times bestseller by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein.[8] Her research on mental accounting and consumer purchasing behavior[9] was cited in the Scientific Background for Thaler's 2017 Nobel Prize.[10] Hastings' subsequent research measured how mental accounting impacts grocery spending for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants.[11]

Hastings helped found Research Improving People's Lives (RIPL), which was established as a non-profit science and technology organization in 2018, with the goal of helping state and local governments use data, science, and technology to improve outcomes for communities.[12]

In 2018, Hastings and RIPL partnered with Governor Gina Raimondo, the Rhode Island Department of Education, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to launch Rhode2College, a statewide incentive program designed to encourage low- and moderate-income high school students to apply to and attend college.[13][14] Over 4 years, the program has served more than 1,400 low-income juniors and seniors.[15]

In March 2020, when the economic shutdown caused by the COVID-19 emergency resulted in an unprecedented surge in unemployment claims that threatened to overwhelm the state's legacy systems used to collect, process, and pay claims, Hastings and RIPL led an effort with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training to create a scalable cloud solution to collect pandemic unemployment assistance claims.[16] [17]

She started in Dec 2020 at Amazon as a VP and leads the PXTCS (People Experience and Technology Central Science) team. It's reported in Dec 2022 that she has been investigated by the company for creating a toxic work environment. An Amazon spokesperson said the allegations against Hastings were “inaccurate, contradictory" and do not "reflect the reality of the situation."[18]

  1. ^ "An Amazon Science VP shares 5 lessons for building and leading successful teams". About Amazon. Amazon. 5 July 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  2. ^ "Hastings, Justine". Department of Economics. University of Washington. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  3. ^ "Justine Hastings". Watson Institute of International & Public Affairs. Brown University. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  4. ^ Hastings, Justine. "Justine Hastings". Google Scholar. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  5. ^ Annual Report of the Academic Research Council, Oct. 2015 - September 2016
  6. ^ "Justine Hastings". Watson Institute of International & Public Affairs. Brown University. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  7. ^ "Justine Hastings". Watson Institute of International & Public Affairs. Brown University. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  8. ^ Thaler, Richard H.; Sunstein, Cass R. (2008). Nudge. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. pp. 204–205. ISBN 978-0-300-12223-7.
  9. ^ Hastings, Justine (25 March 2016). "How Buyers React When Prices Rise and Fall". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  10. ^ "Scientific Background on the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2017" (PDF). The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  11. ^ Hastings, Justine; Shapiro, Jesse M. (December 2018). "How Are SNAP Benefits Spent? Evidence from a Retail Panel". American Economic Review. 108 (12): 3493–3540. doi:10.1257/aer.20170866.
  12. ^ "When Was RIPL Founded?". Research Improving People's Lives. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  13. ^ "State Offers Money for Low, Moderate Income Students". Newport Daily News. 25 September 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  14. ^ "Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Supports Rhode2College Program to Boost College Preparedness and Enrollment". Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. 24 September 2018. 24 September 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  15. ^ "A science-powered program empowering low-income, high-achieving students on the path to college". Rhode2College. Research Improving People's Lives. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  16. ^ Angell, Mintaka (9 November 2020). "Delivering Unemployment Assistance in Times of Crisis: Scalable Cloud Solutions Can Keep Essential Government Programs Running and Supporting Those in Need". Digital Government: Research and Practice. 2 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1145/3428125.
  17. ^ "How Rhode Island Rapidly Scaled to Handle Unemployment Claims". Governing. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  18. ^ Kim, Eugene. "A key executive involved in Amazon's 'earth's best employer' initiative was investigated by the company after allegations that she created a hostile work environment". Business Insider. Retrieved 2022-12-16.