Prof. Dr. Martin Kocher
Prof. Dr. Martin Kocher
About the speak
Professor Martin Kocher is Scientific Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna and holds a professorship in Economics at the University of Vienna. Prior to this, he taught in Munich (LMU), at the University of East Anglia, at Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane), and at the universities of Amsterdam and Innsbruck. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Economic Psychology, a visiting professor at the University of Gothenburg and a Fellow of the CESifo Institute in Munich. His research focuses on the effects of uncertainty on economic decision-making processes and the importance of cooperation and trust in the behaviour of both children and adults. He has published numerous research findings in leading international journals. He serves as an economic advisor to the governments of Austria, the Federal Republic of Germany and Liechtenstein, among others.
Why good decision-making is so difficult – How do we behave successfully?
Lecture on 10 January 2020
Traditional economics assumes that people, almost as if by magic, make good and sound decisions that serve their own interests. In contrast, behavioural economics has, over the past few decades, gathered evidence of systematic flaws in decision-making. Prof. Kocher will discuss the areas in which people have the greatest difficulty making good decisions. He will highlight the tools that can help us improve our decision-making. Finally, he will examine the consequences of these systematic imperfections in decision-making for the design of vital rules and social institutions, and how it is possible to use them to achieve the desired outcomes.