Shlomo Benartzi is an American behavioral economist, known for his research on retirement savings and the Save More Tomorrow nudge. Benartzi is currently a Professor Emeritus at the

UCLA Anderson School of Management The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management, also known as the UCLA Anderson School of Management, is the graduate business school at the University of California, Los Angeles, one of eleven professional schools. The school offers MBA (ful ...

in Los Angeles, California.

Academic career

Benartzi received a bachelor's degree from

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

and a Ph.D. from Cornell University's

Johnson Graduate School of Management The Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management is the graduate business school in the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, a private Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York. It was founded in 1946 and renam ...

. Along with Nobel Laureate

Richard Thaler Richard H. Thaler (; born September 12, 1945) is an American economist and the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In 2015, Thaler was ...

of the University of Chicago, he developed the Save More Tomorrow program (SMarT) which helps employees improve their savings rates over time. The SMarT program is now implemented by the majority of large retirement plans in the United States.Benartzi, Shlomo, and Richard H. Thaler. "Behavioral economics and the retirement savings crisis." Science 339.6124 (2013): 1152-1153. Key elements of Save More Tomorrow have also been included in the Pension Protection Act of 2006. In addition, Benartzi has collaborated on research examining the financial decision-making of individual investors, such as his work on myopic

loss aversion Loss aversion is the tendency to prefer avoiding losses to acquiring equivalent gains. The principle is prominent in the domain of economics. What distinguishes loss aversion from risk aversion is that the utility of a monetary payoff depends o ...

and

naïve diversification Naïve diversification is a choice heuristic (also known as "diversification heuristic"). Essentially, when asked to make several choices at once, people tend to diversify more than when making the same type of decision sequentially. Its first dem ...

. Benartzi's current focus is online behavior, studying the ways in which people behave differently in the digital world. The end goal is to use this knowledge to design more effective digital interfaces. In 2018, Benartzi was named Distinguished Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Behavior Change for Good Initiative.

Writing

Benartzi is the author of three books. His first book was ''Save More Tomorrow''—it focused on improving retirement outcomes by using behavioral insights. His second book, ''Thinking Smarter'', outlined a new approach to reflecting on major life decisions and setting life goals. His most recent book is ''The Smarter Screen'', which outlines the latest research on digital nudging and online behavioral interventions. In addition, Benartzi is a frequent contributor to the Wealth section of The ''Wall Street Journal'', where he writes on the subjects of

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 personalized finance.

Business activities

Benartzi has served as Chief Behavioral Economist for the Allianz Global Investors Center for Behavioral Finance. He is currently Senior Academic Advisor for the Voya Behavioral Finance Institute for Innovation. In addition, Benartzi has served on advisory boards for

Acorns Acorns may refer to: * Plural of acorn, the nut of the oak tree * Acorns (company), a micro-investing and robo-advisor financial company * Acorns (suit), one of the four suits in German pattern playing cards * Acorns Children's Hospice Acorns ...

, WisdomTree, idomoo, Morningstar and Personal Capital. He is also the founder of Digitai, a consulting firm that designs digital interventions that benefit consumers, businesses and society. He is also an advisor to Ant Transaction Machines, Inc. ATM.com hosts info concerning this Acorns-flavored idea.

Government activities

Benartzi has advised government agencies in the U.S. and abroad while helping to craft numerous legislative efforts. Benartzi currently serves as Chief Scientist for the California Digital Nudge Initiative helping the state develop digital interventions to address societal challenges.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benartzi, Shlomo Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Tel Aviv University alumni Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management alumni UCLA Anderson School of Management faculty Nudge theory