Ernst Fehr (born 21 June 1956 in Hard,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) is an Austrian-Swiss behavioral economist and neuroeconomist and a Professor of Microeconomics and Experimental Economic Research, as well as the vice chairman of the Department of Economics at the

University of Zürich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

, Switzerland. His research covers the areas of the

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

of human cooperation and sociality, in particular

fairness Fairness or being fair can refer to: * Justice * The character in the award-nominated musical comedy '' A Theory of Justice: The Musical.'' * Equity (law), a legal principle allowing for the use of discretion and fairness when applying justice ...

, reciprocity and bounded rationality. He is also well known for his important contributions to the new field of neuroeconomics, as well as to behavioral economics,

behavioral finance Behavioral economics studies the effects of psychological, cognitive, emotional, cultural and social factors on the decisions of individuals or institutions, such as how those decisions vary from those implied by classical economic theory. ...

and

experimental economics Experimental economics is the application of experimental methods to study economic questions. Data collected in experiments are used to estimate effect size, test the validity of economic theories, and illuminate market mechanisms. Economic expe ...

. According to IDEAS/REPEC, he is the second-most influential German-speaking economist, and is ranked at 86th globally. In 2010 Ernst Fehr founded, together with his brother, Gerhard Fehr, FehrAdvice & Partners, the first globally operating consultancy firm completely dedicated to behavioral economics. In 2016, Fehr was ranked as the most influential economist in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Awards and prizes

In 2008, Fehr won the Marcel-Benoist of 100,000

Swiss francs The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the f ...

. In 2011, he was awarded the Vorarlberg Science Prize (

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

10,000); in 2012, he received the

Austrian Decoration for Science and Art The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian ...

and on 9 April 2013 he was awarded the Gottlieb Duttweiler Prize "for his pioneering research on the role of fairness in markets, organisations and in individual decisions". Fehr is an honorary member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

, a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences and visiting professor at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. In 2016, Fehr received the honorary doctorate of the

University of Graz The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria. History The univers ...

. 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. 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.

Why Social Preferences Matter

In his 2002 collaboration with Urs 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 and market 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.''The Economic Journal'', "Why Social Preferences Matter – The Impact of Non-Selfish Motives on Competition, Cooperation and Incentives" (Blackwell Publishers, Oxford and Malden, 2002) Vol. 112, No. 489 C1–C33

Selected bibliography

* *

References

External links

University of Zürich, Department of Economics

FehrAdvice & Partners AG, The Behavioral Economics Consultancy Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fehr, Ernst 1956 births Living people People from Bregenz District Austrian economists Swiss economists Experimental economists University of Zurich faculty Neuroeconomists Austrian expatriates in Switzerland Recipients of the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art Fellows of the Econometric Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the Association for Psychological Science Members of Academia Europaea Labor economists Fellows of the European Economic Association

Awards and prizes

Why Social Preferences Matter

See also

Selected bibliography

References

External links