What Open-Ended Answers Can Reveal About Economic Behaviour
A new article published in the Journal of Economic Literature shows how open-ended survey data are reshaping the way economists study beliefs and behaviour.
In “Understanding Economic Behavior Using Open-Ended Survey Data” (2025), Ingar Haaland, Christopher Roth, Stefanie Stantcheva, and Johannes Wohlfart provide a comprehensive review of how researchers analyse what people say — in their own words — to better understand the reasoning behind economic decisions. The article examines a wide range of applications, from studying motives and mental models to investigating narratives, information processing, and memory accuracy.
The authors highlight how open-ended responses offer insights that standard multiple-choice surveys often miss. They describe how economists use responses from text boxes, spoken answers, and AI-led qualitative interviews to capture the nuances of people’s thinking.
Taken together, the article demonstrates how open-ended data open new windows into economic behaviour — revealing not only what people believe, but why they believe it, and how those beliefs shape their choices.