Dear NBER Board Members, Researchers, and Staff -
Please join me in congratulating Research Associate Richard Thaler who
this morning was awarded the 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic
Sciences for his fundamental research in behavioral economics. The
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in announcing the prize, explained
that "Thaler has incorporated psychologically realistic assumptions into
analyses of economic decision-making ... he has shown how these human
traits systematically affect individual decisions as well as market
outcomes." The Academy released a high-level summary of Thaler's
contributions, which discusses the many fields in which insights from
behavioral economics have found application:
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2017/popular-economicsciences2017.pdf
It also presented a longer summary of the scientific contributions that
underlie this award:
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2017/advanced-economicsciences2017.pdf
Thaler is the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of
Economics and Behavioral Science at the Booth School of Business at the
University of Chicago, as well as a Research Associate in the NBER's
Asset Pricing program. In 1992, along with Robert Shiller, he launched
the NBER Working Group on Behavioral Economics, which has served as an
important forum for researchers working in this field. He served as
co-director of that group until 2016.
All best wishes.
Jim Poterba
Received on Mon Oct 09 2017 - 07:58:46 EDT
