Eric Eleterius Coralie van Damme (born 27 July 1956CURRICULUM VITAE Eric van Damme
version: 17 April 2013) is a Dutch

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and Professor of Economics at the

Tilburg University Tilburg University is a Catholic research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg, Netherlands. Tilburg has a student population of about 19,1 ...

, known for his contributions to

game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions. It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science. Initially, game theory addressed ...

Biography

Born in

Terneuzen Terneuzen () is a city and municipality in the southwestern Netherlands, in the province of Zeeland, in the middle of Zeelandic Flanders. With almost 55,000 inhabitants, it is the most populous municipality of Zeeland. History First mentione ...

, Van Damme received his MA in Mathematics at the

Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, , formerly ) is a public university, public research university located in Nijmegen, Netherlands. RU has seven faculties and more than 24,000 students. Established in 1923, Radboud University has consistentl ...

in 1979, where he was mentored by Stef Tijs, the godfather of game theory in the Netherlands. He went on to earn his PhD in Technical Sciences in 1983 at the

Eindhoven University of Technology The Eindhoven University of Technology (), Abbreviation, abbr. TU/e, is a public university, public technical university in the Netherlands, situated in Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its Bachelor of Science, BS ...

with a thesis entitled "Refinements of the Nash Equilibrium Concept" under supervision of Jaap Wessels and

Reinhard Selten Reinhard Justus Reginald Selten (; 5 October 1930 – 23 August 2016) was a German economics, economist, who won the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (shared with John Harsanyi and John Forbes Nash, John Nash). He is also well ...

. After graduation Van Damme started his academic career in 1983 as Assistant Professor at the

Delft University of Technology The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft; ) is the oldest and largest Dutch public university, public Institute of technology, technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, a ...

, and got promoted to Associate Professor in 1984. In 1986 he moved to the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

, where he was Associate Professor in Economic Theory until 1990. In 1989 he got appointed Professor of Economics at the

Since then he has held several administrative positions at the CentER, the Center for Economic Research at the Tilburg University. In between he was Visiting Professor at European Universities in

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

; and in the USA at the

Kellogg School of Management The Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management (branded as Northwestern Kellogg) is the graduate business school of Northwestern University, a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois. History Early ...

. He is also member of multiple editorial boards. Van Damme was elected fellow of the

Econometric Society The Econometric Society is an international society of academic economists interested in applying statistical tools in the practice of econometrics. It is an independent organization with no connections to societies of professional mathematicians o ...

in 1993, and appointed member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

in 2004. He is also a fellow of the

European Economic Association The European Economic Association (EEA) is a learned society, professional academic body which links European economists. It was founded in the mid-1980s. Its first annual congress was in 1986 in Vienna and its first president was Jacques Drèze. ...

. In 2009 he awarded a knighthood in the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands (, ) is a Dutch honours system, Dutch order of chivalry founded by William I of the Netherlands on 29 September 1815. The Order of the Netherlands Lion wa ...

Work

Van Damme's research interests are in the fields of "game theory, economic theory, competition policy and regulation, experimental economics,

bounded rationality Bounded rationality is the idea that rationality is limited when individuals decision-making, make decisions, and under these limitations, rational individuals will select a decision that is satisficing, satisfactory rather than optimal. Limitat ...

and bargaining."

Publications

Van Damme has authored and co-authored numerous publications specifically in the field of game theory.List of Publications
at National Library of the Netherlands Books, a selection: * 1983. ''Refinements of the Nash equilibrium concept.'' Springer Verlag, Berlin * 1987.
Stability and Perfection of Nash Equilibria
'' Springer Verlag, Berlin * 1996. ''Understanding Strategic Interaction; Essays in Honor of Reinhard Selten'' Et al. (eds.). Springer Verlag, Berlin Articles, a selection: * Van Damme, Eric.
Stable equilibria and forward induction
" ''

Journal of Economic Theory The ''Journal of Economic Theory'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the field of economic theory. Karl Shell has served as editor-in-chief of the journal since it was established in 1968. Since 2000, he has shared the editor ...

'' 48.2 (1989): 476–496. * Carlsson, Hans, and Eric Van Damme.
Global games and equilibrium selection
" ''

Econometrica ''Econometrica'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics, publishing articles in many areas of economics, especially econometrics. It is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Econometric Society. The current editor-in-chief is ...

'' (1993): 989–1018. * Güth, Werner, and Eric Van Damme. "Information, strategic behavior, and fairness in ultimatum bargaining: An experimental study." Journal of Mathematical Psychology 42.2 (1998): 227–247.

References

External links

Eric van Damme
Brief CV, Tilburg University {{DEFAULTSORT:Damme, Eric van 1956 births Living people Dutch economists Dutch econometricians Radboud University Nijmegen alumni Eindhoven University of Technology alumni Academic staff of the Delft University of Technology Academic staff of Tilburg University Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion People from Terneuzen Fellows of the Econometric Society Fellows of the European Economic Association Game theorists