Richard H. Thaler has been
awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in
Memory of Alfred Nobel 2017. Thaler is the Charles R. Walgreen
Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and
Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored Thaler “for his
contributions to behavioural economics,” a relatively new field
that bridges the gap between economics and psychology.
Thaler’s research investigates the implications of relaxing the
standard economic assumption that everyone in the economy is
rational and selfish, instead entertaining the possibility that
some of the agents in the economy are sometimes human.
He is among the 89 scholars associated with the University to
receive Nobel Prizes, and among the 28 who have received the
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. In addition to Thaler, five
current UChicago faculty members are Nobel laureates in
economics: Profs. Eugene Fama and Lars Hansen (in 2013), Roger
Myerson (2007), James Heckman (2000), and Robert E. Lucas Jr.
(1995).
The author of the bestselling books Misbehaving: The Making of
Behavioral Economics (2015) and Nudge: Improving Decisions About
Health, Wealth and Happiness (2008), Thaler is renowned for
creating easy-to-understand scenarios that show how human
behavior often contradicts traditional economic logic.
In Misbehaving, which Financial Times named one of the six most
influential business books of 2015, Thaler chronicles the
struggle to bring the academic discipline of economics back down
to earth and reveals how behavioral economic analysis can change
the way we think about everything from household finances to the
NFL draft.
Nudge, coauthored with Harvard Law School Professor Cass R.
Sunstein, explores how the concepts of behavioral economics can
be used to tackle many of society’s major problems and influence
public policy. Ranked as the Best Book of the Year by The
Economist and Financial Times, the research prompted the United
Kingdom’s government in 2010 to establish a Behavioral Insight
Team, or “Nudge Unit,” to create policies that nudge British
citizens to make better choices and, in turn, save the state
money. Thaler served as an advisor in setting up the unit’s
guiding principles.
Thaler’s other books include Quasi-Rational Economics and The
Winner's Curse: Paradoxes and Anomalies of Economic Life, His
work has been published in the American Economics Review, the
Journal of Finance, and the Journal of Political Economy.
Thaler was named in 2015 to Bloomberg Markets 50 Most
Influential People; he also was the American Economic
Association’s president for 2015.
Before joining the Chicago Booth faculty in 1995, Thaler taught
at the University of Rochester and Cornell University. He also
served as a visiting professor at the University of British
Columbia, the Sloan School of Management at MIT, the Russell
Sage Foundation, and the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral
Sciences at Stanford University.
Originally from New Jersey, Thaler attended Case Western Reserve
University where he received a bachelor's degree in 1967. Soon
after, he attended the University of Rochester where he received
a master's degree in 1970 and a PhD in 1974.
Richard Thaler’s biography
Richard H. Thaler is a pioneer in the relatively new field of
behavioral science and economics. His research bridges the gap
between economics and psychology. He investigates the
implications of relaxing the standard economic assumption that
everyone in the economy is rational and selfish, instead
entertaining the possibility that some of the agents in the
economy are sometimes human.
The author of the bestselling books Misbehaving: The Making of
Behavioral Economics (2015) and Nudge: Improving Decisions About
Health, Wealth and Happiness (2008), Thaler is renowned for
creating easy-to-understand scenarios that show how human
behavior often contradicts traditional economic logic.
Thaler teaches ‘Behavioural Economics’ and ‘Choice architecture
in practice’ at the University of Chicago Booth School of
Business in Chicago and to Executive MBA students at the
school’s campus in London.