TisEM - Jochem de Bresser

Uri Gneezy

  • Uri Gneezy - Tilburg University

    Uri Gneezy

    PhD Graduate ’97, Professor of Economics and Strategic Management and the Epstein/Atkinson Chair in Behavioral Economics, Rady School of Management, UC San Diego

    ‘My advisor, Eric van Damme, was instrumental for my development and taught me how to think.’

Uri Gneezy obtained his PhD degree in behavioral and experimental economics in 1997. His academic career included positions in Israel, Chicago and San Diego.  As a researcher, his focus is on putting behavioral economics to work in the real world, where theory can meet application. His advice for current PhD candidates: start with the big picture.

How did you become a PhD candidate at Tilburg University?

My wife landed a job at Schiphol Airport, so we moved to the Netherlands and I had an interest in doing a PhD in game theory or getting an MBA degree. I quickly learned getting an MBA degree would cost a lot of money while I’d be paid for doing a PhD ….so that was an easy choice. I applied to Tilburg University because it was a great place with a strong international aspect and a focus on research. Visitors from all over the world came to Tilburg University. My advisor, Eric van Damme, was instrumental for my development and taught me how to think. I have never met someone who knows how to strip a problem of its unnecessary details and get to its core as well as he does. I am very grateful to him and wish I would have half of his patience and openness with my students. He has been a wonderful advisor. I was also lucky to work with Jan Potters, who taught me how to design and run experiments.

What has your career been like?

Upon receiving my PhD degree at Tilburg University, I returned to Israel for 4 years and worked at the University of Haifa and Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. Subsequently, I joined the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago for 5 years. When both my wife and I were offered jobs at the University of California, San Diego, we moved there. At the Rady School of Management I’ve been for 16 years. I visit the University of Amsterdam frequently to work with my friends there, so I still come to the Netherlands on a regular basis. As a researcher, my focus is on putting behavioral economics to work in the real world, where theory can meet application. I’m looking on basic research as well as more applied approaches to such topics as incentives-based interventions to increase good habits and decrease bad ones, Pay-What-You-Want pricing, and the detrimental effects of small and large incentives. In addition to the traditional laboratory and field studies, I’m currently working with several firms, conducting experiments in which we’re using basic findings from behavioral economics to help companies achieve their traditional goals in non-traditional ways.

What are you proud of?

I’m proud of my students and the research I’ve done. It’s great to spend your time around young energetic people. I love research, teaching, working with companies, and I just wrote a book. I feel very privileged in my career that allows me to do what I’m interested in and follow my dreams.

What advice do you have for current PhD candidates?

Start with the big picture, not with a specific question. For example, if you are interested in how technology changed behavior, make a list of things that it changed. Before we had GPS, we had to remember how to get from one place to another; before we had Google information was much harder to find, etc. Only then look for a specific aspect of the question on which you think you can say something interesting.