Associate Professor Lana Friesen
Associate Professor
School of Economics
+61 7 336 56564
Room 512, Level 5, Colin Clark Building (#39)
Researcher biography
Lana Friesen is an Associate Professor in the School of Economics at the University of Queensland, Australia. She is primarily an experimental economist with interests in environmental economics and behavioural economics. Her research focuses on three broad themes. First, and most recently, the optimal design of environmental markets including those for pollution permits and carbon credits. Second, how to leverage limited enforcement resources to improve compliance with environmental regulations. Third, improving decision making in complex environments such as mobile phone contracts and aged care.
Associate Professor Friesen's research has been published in leading economics journals including the Economic Journal, European Economic Review, Journal of Environmental Economics, and the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. Her research has received funding from the Australian Research Council, Energy Consumers Australia, and AgriFutures Australia, among other sources.
Associate Professor Friesen is currently an Associate Editor at the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization and a Coordinating Editor at Theory and Decision.
Book Chapters
Cason, Timothy N., Friesen, Lana and Gangadharan, Lata (2025). Environmental regulations and compliance. Elgar encyclopedia of behavioural and experimental economics. (pp. 177-179) edited by Swee-Hoon Chuah, Robert Hoffmann and Ananta Neelim. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781802207736.00058
Cason, Timothy N., Friesen, Lana and Gangadharan, Lata (2021). Complying with environmental regulations: experimental evidence. A research agenda for experimental economics. (pp. 69-92) edited by Ananish Chaudhuri. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781789909852.00010
Friesen, Lana and Gangadharan, Lata (2013). Environmental Markets: What Do We Learn From the Lab?. A Collection of Surveys on Market Experiments. (pp. 135-157) Chichester, West Sussex United Kingdom: Wiley Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9781118790700
Journal Articles
Kenny, Danelle, Nguyen, Kim-Huong, Breig, Zachary, Friesen, Lana and Comans, Tracy (2025). Decisions, decisions: observations of resource allocation under consumer-directed care. Healthcare, 13 (5) 516, 1-13. doi: 10.3390/healthcare13050516
Earnhart, Dietrich and Friesen, Lana (2024). The effect of professional social norms on corporate environmental compliance. Resource and Energy Economics, 79-80 101460, 101460. doi: 10.1016/j.reseneeco.2024.101460
Kenny, Danelle, Nguyen, Kim-Huong, Friesen, Lana, Breig, Zachary and Comans, Tracy (2023). Heuristics, biases, and decisions in resource allocation for home care packages under consumer directed care: a systematic review and thematic synthesis. Health and Social Care in the Community, 2023 (1) 4157055, 1-16. doi: 10.1155/2023/4157055
Friesen, Lana, MacKenzie, Ian A. and Nguyen, Mai Phuong (2023). Initially contestable property rights and Coase: evidence from the lab. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 120 102842, 102842. doi: 10.1016/j.jeem.2023.102842
Bougherara, Douadia, Friesen, Lana and Nauges, Céline (2022). Risk-taking and skewness-seeking behavior in a demographically diverse population. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 201, 83-104. doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.07.011
Earnhart, Dietrich and Friesen, Lana (2022). Certainty of Punishment versus Severity of Punishment: Enforcement of Environmental Protection Laws. Land Economics, 99 (2), 030521-0024R1. doi: 10.3368/le.030521-0024r1
Friesen, Lana, Gangadharan, Lata, Khezr, Peyman and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2022). Mind your Ps and Qs! Variable allowance supply in the US Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 112 102620, 102620. doi: 10.1016/j.jeem.2022.102620
Earnhart, Dietrich and Friesen, Lana (2021). Use of competitive endogenous audit mechanisms by federal and state inspectors within environmental protection agencies. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 109 102476, 1-26. doi: 10.1016/j.jeem.2021.102476
Bougherara, Douadia, Friesen, Lana and Nauges, Celine (2021). Risk taking with left- and right-skewed lotteries*. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 62 (1), 1-24. doi: 10.1007/s11166-021-09345-w
Earnhart, Dietrich and Friesen, Lana (2021). Enforcement federalism: comparing the effectiveness of federal punishment versus state punishment. Environmental and Resource Economics, 78 (2), 227-255. doi: 10.1007/s10640-020-00530-0
Cason, Timothy N., Friesen, Lana and Gangadharan, Lata (2020). Inter-firm social dilemmas with agency risk. European Economic Review, 129 103570, 103570. doi: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2020.103570
Earl, Peter E., Friesen, Lana and Shadforth, Christopher (2019). Elusive optima: A process tracing analysis of procedural rationality in mobile phone connection plan choices. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 161, 303-322. doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2019.03.021
Friesen, Lana and Earl, Peter E. (2019). An Experimental Analysis of Regulatory Interventions for Complex Pricing. Southern Economic Journal, 86 (3) soej.12414, 1241-1266. doi: 10.1002/soej.12414
Leng, Ailin, Friesen, Lana, Kalayci, Kenan and Man, Priscilla (2018). A minimum effort coordination game experiment in continuous time. Experimental Economics, 21 (3), 1-24. doi: 10.1007/s10683-017-9550-3
Yong, Soo Keong, Friesen, Lana and Mcdonald, Stuart (2018). Emission taxes, clean technology cooperation, and product market collusion: Experimental evidence. Economic Inquiry, 56 (4), 1950-1979. doi: 10.1111/ecin.12573
Earnhart, Dietrich and Friesen, Lana (2017). The effects of regulated facilities' perceptions about the effectiveness of government interventions on environmental compliance. Ecological Economics, 142, 282-294. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.06.014
Brent, Daniel A., Friesen, Lana, Gangadharan, Lata and Leibbrandt, Andreas (2017). Behavioral insights from field experiments in environmental econmoics. International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, 10 (2), 95-143. doi: 10.1561/101.00000084
Earl, Peter E. , Friesen, Lana and Shadforth, Christopher (2017). The efficiency of market-assisted choice: an experimental analysis of mobile phone connection service recommendations. Journal of Institutional Economics, 13 (4), 849-873. doi: 10.1017/S174413741700011X
Cason, Timothy N., Friesen, Lana and Gangadharan, Lata (2016). Regulatory performance of audit tournaments and compliance observability. European Economic Review, 85, 288-306. doi: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2016.03.009
Tse, Alan, Friesen, Lana and Kalayci, Kenan (2016). Complexity and asset legitimacy in retirement investment. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 60, 35-48. doi: 10.1016/j.socec.2015.12.001
Friesen, Lana and Earl, Peter E. (2015). Multipart tariffs and bounded rationality: an experimental analysis of mobile phone plan choices. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 116, 239-253. doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2015.04.016
Faravelli, Marco, Friesen, Lana and Gangadharan, Lata (2014). Selection, tournaments, and dishonesty. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 110, 1-16. doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2014.10.019
Earnhart, Dietrich and Friesen, Lana (2013). Can punishment generate specific deterrence without updating? Analysis of a stated choice scenario. Environmental and Resource Economics, 56 (3), 379-397. doi: 10.1007/s10640-013-9652-0
Friesen, Lana and Gangadharan, Lata (2013). Designing self-reporting regimes to encourage truth telling: an experimental study. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 94, 90-102. doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2013.08.007
Friesen, Lana and Gangadharan, Lata (2013). Environmental markets: what do we learn from the lab?. Journal of Economic Surveys, 27 (3), 515-535. doi: 10.1111/joes.12021
Friesen, Lana and Gangadharan, Lata (2012). Individual level evidence of dishonesty and the gender effect. Economics Letters, 117 (3), 624-626. doi: 10.1016/j.econlet.2012.08.005
Friesen, Lana (2012). Certainty of punishment versus severity of punishment: an experimental investigation. Southern Economic Journal, 79 (2), 399-421. doi: 10.4284/0038-4038-2011.152
Clark, Jeremy and Friesen, Lana (2009). Overconfidence in Forecasts of Own Performance: An Experimental Study. The Economic Journal, 119 (534), 229-251. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2008.02211.x
Clark, Jeremy and Friesen, Lana (2008). The causes of order effects in contingent valuation surveys: An experimental investigation. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 56 (2), 195-206. doi: 10.1016/j.jeem.2007.12.005
Friesen, Lana (2006). The social welfare implications of industry self-auditing. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 51 (3), 280-294. doi: 10.1016/j.jeem.2005.08.002
Tait, Peter R., Friesen, Lana and Cullen, Ross (2005). Will unit pricing reduce domestic waste? Lessons from a contingent valuation study. New Zealand Economic Papers, 39 (1), 83-103. doi: 10.1080/00779950509558481
Clark, Jeremy, Friesen, Lana and Muller, Andrew (2004). The good, the bad, and the regulator: An experimental test of two conditional audit schemes. Economic inquiry, 42 (1), 69-87. doi: 10.1093/ei/cbh045
Friesen, Lana (2003). Targeting enforcement to improve compliance with environmental regulations. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 46 (1), 72-85. doi: 10.1016/S0095-0696(02)00033-5
Newspaper Article
Oyarzun, Carlos, Uyanik, Metin, Friesen, Lana and Man, Priscilla (2023, 12 12). How getting a second opinion can stop you being ripped off The Conversation
Working Papers
Cason, Timothy N., Friesen, Lana and Gangadharan, Lata (2020). Complying with environmental regulations: experimental evidence. School of Economics Discussion Paper. 637. University of Queensland, Australia.
Bougherara, Douadia , Friesen, Lana and Nauges, Céline (2020). Risk Taking with Left- and Right-Skewed Lotteries. School of Economics Discussion Paper. 619. The University of Queensland, QLD Australia.
Friesen, Lana , Gangadharan, Lata , Khezr, Peyman and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2020). Mind your Ps and Qs! An Experiment on Variable Allowance Supply in the US Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. School of Economics Discussion Paper. 618. School of Economics, The University of Queensland, QLD Australia.
Friesen, Lana and Earnhart, Dietrich (2012). Environmental Management Responses to Punishment: Specific Deterrence and Certainty versus Severity of Punishment. School of Economics Discussion Paper Series. 463. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
Friesen, Lana and Earnhart, Dietrich (2012). Can Punishment Generate Specific Deterrence without Updating? Analysis of a Stated Choice Scenario. School of Economics Discussion Paper Series. 468. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
Earl, Peter E., Friesen, Lana and Kristin Hatherley (2011). Bounded Rationality and Consumer Research: Lessons From a Study of Choices of Mobile Phone Service Contracts. School of Economics Discussion Paper. 449. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
Friesen, Lana and Gangadharan, Lata (2011). Designing Self-Reporting Regimes to Encourage Truth Telling: An Experimental Study. School of Economics Discussion Paper. 426. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
Friesen, Lana (2009). Certainty of punishment versus severity of punishment- an experimental investigation. 400. School of Economics, University of Queensland.