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William Skimmyhorn

William Skimmyhorn

Thomas L. Owens Associate Professor

Dean's Research Fellow: 2021-2023
Area: Economics & Finance
Phone: 757-221-1826
Email: [[m|bill.skimmyhorn]]
Office: Miller Hall 3082
CV: {{https://mason.wm.edu/faculty/documents/skimmyhorn_2025_cv2.pdf, PDF}}

Biography

William Skimmyhorn is an Associate Professor of Finance and Economics. Prior to joining the faculty at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business, he was an Assistant and Associate Professor of Economics at the United States Military Academy at West Point. While there, he served as the inaugural Long-Term Research Coordinator for the U.S. Army Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis. In this position, he was responsible for providing analytic support to senior government leaders, managing a research network of leading scholars at more than a dozen institutions nationwide, and designing research and program evaluations to improve public policy.

He researches the causes and consequences of individual financial decision-making and human capital development. This research contributes to fields including household finance, behavioral finance and behavioral economics, public economics, labor economics, and the economics of national security. He has presented his research at academic conferences around the country and to policy-makers in a variety of settings, and published in journals including the Journal of Finance, Review of Finance, Review of Economics and Statistics, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, and the Journal of Public Economics.

He earned a B.S. degree in Economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point, an M.S. degree in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, an M.A. degree in International Policy from Stanford, and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University.  Prior to arriving at William & Mary, Dr. Skimmyhorn was a career military officer in the U.S. Army as an aviator and an economist.

 

Areas of Interest/Expertise

  • Household Finance and Financial Decision-Making
  • Behavioral Economics & Behavioral Finance
  • Human Capital, Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skill Development
  • Public Policy & Program Evaluation
  • Economics of National Security
  • Veteran’s Issues

Publications

  • Patterson, Richard W. and William Skimmyhorn. 2025. “How do Behavioral Approaches to Increase Savings Compare?  Evidence from Multiple Interventions in the U.S. Army.” Also Available as NBER Working Paper w30697 and Wharton Pension Research Council Working Paper No. 2021-05. Accepted, Management Science. 
  • Freeman, Charlton “Eli” and William Skimmyhorn. 2025. “Save More Tomorrow, Today: Experimental Evidence on the Role of Precommitment, Urgency and Personalization.” Review of Finance, (29)5, 1587-1618. https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfaf027.
  • Phipps, Aaron and William Skimmyhorn. 2024. “Entrepreneurship Among Veterans: Comparative Evidence from Recent Surveys.” International Small Business Journal, 43(1). doi.org/10.1177/02662426241278216.
  • Barr, Andrew C., Kelli A. Bird, Ben Castleman, and William Skimmyhorn. 2024. “Can Information and Advising Affect Postsecondary Participation and Attainment for Military Personnel? Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment with the U.S. Army.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 44(1), 73-96. doi.org/10.1002/pam.22572. Also Available as NBER Working Paper w30665 and Annenberg Institute for School Reform EdWorkingPapers No. 22-529.
  • Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and William Skimmyhorn. 2022. “Borrowing to Save? The Impact of Automatic Enrollment on Debt.” Journal of Finance, 77(1), 403-447. doi.org/10.1111/jofi.13069. Also available as NBER Working Paper No. 28876.
  • Goldin, Jacob, Tatiana Hominoff, Richard Patterson, and William Skimmyhorn. 2020. “How Much to Save? Decision Costs and Retirement Plan Participation.”  Journal of Public Economics, 191. doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104247.  Also available as NBER Working Paper w27575.
  • Lieber, Ethan and William Skimmyhorn. 2018. “Peer Effects in Financial Decision-Making.”  Journal of Public Economics, 163, 37-59. doi: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.05.001
  • Carter, Susan Payne and William L. Skimmyhorn. 2017. “Much Ado About Nothing? New Evidence on the Effects of Payday Lending on Military Members.” Review of Economics and Statistics, 99(4): 606-621. doi: 10.1162/REST_a_00647
  • Mayer, John D. and William Skimmyhorn. 2017. “Psychological Predictors of Cadet Performance at West Point.” Journal of Research in Personality, 66: 14-26. doi: 10.1016/j.jrp.2016.10.012
  • Skimmyhorn, William L. 2016. “Assessing Financial Education: Evidence From Boot Camp.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 8(2), 322-343. doi: 10.1257/pol.20140283.
  • Hastings Justine S., Brigitte C. Madrian and William L. Skimmyhorn. 2013. “Financial Literacy, Financial Education and Economic Outcomes.” Annual Review of Economics. 5, 347-373. doi: 10.1146/annurev-economics-082312-125807. Also available as NBER Working Paper w18412.