Ernst Fehr | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1956-06-21)21 June 1956 (age 68) |
| Nationality | Austria,Switzerland[1] |
| Academic career | |
| Field | Behavioral economics |
| Institution | University of Zürich |
| Alma mater | University of Vienna |
| Doctoral students | Armin Falk |
| Awards | Gossen Prize (1999), Marcel Benoist Prize (2008) |
| Information atIDEAS / RePEc | |
Ernst Fehr (born 21 June 1956 in Hard,Austria) is an Austrian-Swiss[1] behavioral economist andneuroeconomist and a Professor of Microeconomics and Experimental Economic Research, as well as the vice chairman of the Department of Economics at theUniversity of Zürich,Switzerland. His research covers the areas of theevolution of humancooperation and sociality, in particularfairness,reciprocity andbounded rationality.
He is also well known for his important contributions to the new field of neuroeconomics[citation needed], as well as to behavioral economics,behavioral finance andexperimental economics. According toIDEAS/REPEC, he is the second-most influential German-speaking economist[citation needed], and is ranked at 75th globally.[2]
In 2010 Ernst Fehr founded, together with his brother, Gerhard Fehr, FehrAdvice & Partners, the first globally operating consultancy firm completely dedicated tobehavioral economics.[citation needed]
In 2016, Fehr was ranked as the most influential economist in Germany,[3] Austria,[4] and Switzerland.[5]
In 2008, Fehr won the Marcel-Benoist science prize of 100,000Swiss francs[citation needed]. In 2011, he was awarded the Vorarlberg Science Prize (€10,000)[citation needed]; in 2012, he received theAustrian Decoration for Science and Art and on 9 April 2013 he was awarded theGottlieb Duttweiler Prize "for his pioneering research on the role of fairness in markets, organisations and in individual decisions".[6]
Fehr is an honorary member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of theAmerican Academy of Political and Social Sciences and visiting professor at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.[citation needed]
In 2016, Fehr received the honorary doctorate of theUniversity of Graz.[citation needed]
In 2017, Fehr was appointed as lifelong foreign honorary member of the American Economic Association, AEA, together with Philippe Aghion, an economics professor at Harvard University.[7] The number of honorary members is limited. The election is made by the Executive Committee of the American Economic Association and will only take place if a former honorary member dies.[8]
In his 2002 collaboration withUrs Fischbacher,Why Social Preferences Matter – The Impact of Non-Selfish Motives on Competition, Cooperation and Incentives, he begins with the abstract:
A substantial number of people exhibit social preferences, which means they are not solely motivated by material self-interest but also care positively or negatively for the material payoffs of relevant reference agents. We show empirically that economists can fail to understand fundamental economic questions when they disregard social preferences, in particular, that without taking social preferences into account, it is not possible to understand adequately (i) effects of competition on market outcomes, (ii) laws governing cooperation and collective action, (iii) effects and the determinants of material incentives, (iv) which contracts and property rights arrangements are optimal, and (v) important forces shaping social norms andmarket failures.
He conjectures that we could call economics "the dismal science" because it consistently assumes the worst in human motives, which contrasts sharply with the pervasive idea that consumer tastes are heterogeneous. He attacks the idea on two fronts. First, because a great amount of evidence has contradicted the selfishness hypothesis; second, because failure to regard other-concerning behavior ignores central market activities.[9]
