Katherine L. Milkman is an American economist who is the James G. Dinan endowed Professor at The Wharton School of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. She was previously the President of the

Society for Judgment and Decision Making The Society for Judgment and Decision Making is an interdisciplinary academic organization dedicated to the study of normative, descriptive, and prescriptive theories of decision. Its members include psychologists, economists, organizational and m ...

Early life and education

Milkman originally considered working on

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

, and spent her college holidays interning at investment banks. She was an undergraduate student at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, where she specialised in

Operations Research Operations research () (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a branch of applied mathematics that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve management and ...

and

American studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, History of the United States, history, Society of the United States, society, and Culture of the Unit ...

. She moved to

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

for her graduate studies and completed a doctorate in information and technology in 2009.

Research and career

Milkman moved to the

, where she was made assistant professor. She was promoted to Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions in 2018. She studies how economics and psychology can be used to change behaviour, including opinions on exercise, vaccine take-up and discrimination. Milkman makes use of big data to document this behavioural change in an effort to understand what results in failures of self-control. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Milkman investigated the transmission of

coronavirus disease Coronavirus diseases are caused by viruses in the coronavirus subfamily, a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, the group of viruses cause respiratory tract infections that can range from ...

, claiming that it relied on social habits that can be changed. She used her understanding of

vaccine hesitancy Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal of vaccines despite availability and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain about their use, or using ce ...

to encourage people to accept the

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and fun ...

. She argued that getting people to wear masks would have been easier if people had considered them as fashion items as opposed to a burden.

Awards and honors

* 2015 Associations in Behavioural & Brain Sciences Early Career Award from the Federation * 2017 Finalist for Thinkers50 * 2019 Society for Personality and Social Psychology Robert B. Cialdini Prize * 2019 Elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science * 2020

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

10 Behavioural Scientists You Should Know

Selected publications

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Bibliography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milkman, Katy Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Pennsylvania faculty Princeton University alumni Harvard University alumni American economists American women economists 21st-century American women