Rachel Toni Algaze Croson is an economist currently serving as Executive Vice President and Provost of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, and McKnight Endowed Professor of Economics. Until March 2020, she served as Dean of the College of Social Science and MSU Foundation Professor of Economics at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

. Her previous positions include Dean of the School of Business at the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas, United States. It is the second oldest university in the University of Texas System and was founded in 1895. It was in the Texas A& ...

; Division Director of Social and Economic Sciences at the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

; Director of the Negotiations Center, Professor of Economics, and Professor of Organizations, Strategy, and International Management at the

University of Texas at Dallas The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD or UT Dallas) is a public research university in Richardson, Texas, United States. It is the northernmost institution of the University of Texas System. It was initially founded in 1961 as a private res ...

. After receiving her Ph.D. she was Assistant and then Associate Professor (with tenure) in the Department of Operations and Information Management at the

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

and a member of the Psychology Graduate Group 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 ...

Research

Croson earned her bachelor's degree in economics and philosophy of science from the College of Arts & Sciences at

and her master's and Ph.D. in economics from the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at

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 ...

. Croson's research focuses on

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

and

behavioral economics Behavioral economics is the study of the psychological (e.g. cognitive, behavioral, affective, social) factors involved in the decisions of individuals or institutions, and how these decisions deviate from those implied by traditional economi ...

; studying how people make economic decisions, what mistakes they make, and how to improve their performance. This research draws from and contributes to multiple disciplines. Substantively her research has focused on the voluntary provision of

public goods In economics, a public good (also referred to as a social good or collective good)Oakland, W. H. (1987). Theory of public goods. In Handbook of public economics (Vol. 2, pp. 485–535). Elsevier. is a goods, commodity, product or service that ...

(especially public radio),

bargaining In the social sciences, bargaining or haggling is a type of negotiation in which the buyer and seller of a Goods and services, good or service debate the price or nature of a Financial transaction, transaction. If the bargaining produces agree ...

and

negotiation Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more parties to resolve points of difference, gain an advantage for an individual or Collective bargaining, collective, or craft outcomes to satisfy various interests. The parties aspire to agree on m ...

, behavioral operations management, and gender and cultural differences. She has served on the Editorial Boards of the

American Economic Review The ''American Economic Review'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal first published by the American Economic Association in 1911. The current editor-in-chief is Erzo FP Luttmer, a professor of economics at Dartmouth College. The journal is ...

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes ''Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering organizational behavior and psychology. It was established in 1966 as ''Organizational Behavior and Human Performance'', obtaining it ...

Management Science Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...

, Experimental Economics, and

Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization The ''Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization'' is an academic journal published by Elsevier. It was started in 1980 by North-Holland, later merged into Elsevier. It publishes research on economic decision and behaviour influence organizati ...

. She was pivotal in creating and leading workshops to help female junior faculty in Economics advance through the profession, winning the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award from the American Economic Association (2017) in recognition of her contributions. She was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) in 2021 and is appointed as a McKnight Endowed Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Minnesota.

Selected works

* Se
Google Scholar page
an
Orcid profile

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Croson, Rachel American women economists 20th-century American economists 21st-century American economists University of Minnesota faculty Harvard University alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Living people American behavioral economists Experimental economists Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American women 21st-century American women