
Starting in the summer of 2022, Botond Kőszegi will become a full-time professor at briq. He is currently University Professor at Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, after previous positions at the University of California, Berkeley, and a visiting position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Holding a BA in mathematics from Harvard University in 1996, he received his PhD in economics from the MIT in 2000 as one of the first students to write a PhD thesis entirely on behavioral economics.
Having visited many times, I already know briq very well, and have experienced the intense and friendly environment that makes it a center of behavioral-economics research. I look forward to being part of it full time and helping to grow it further!
Over the past two decades he has published extensively on behavioral-economics topics – including several lead articles – in top journals such as the American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of the European Economic Association, and Journal of Public Economics. He was also Managing Editor at the Review of Economic Studies.
Focusing primarily on the theoretical foundations of behavioral economics, Botond has produced research on self-control problems and the consumption and regulation of harmful products, self-image and anticipatory utility, reference-dependent preferences and loss aversion, markets for deceptive products, and misguided learning.
He has received European Research Council Grants in 2012 and 2018, and the Yrjö Jahnsson Award, a biennial award for the best economist in Europe under the age of 45, in 2015 (see video below).
“I am extremely happy, both academically and personally, that Botond will join us. This will clearly boost our behavioral economics research at briq and Bonn. Absolutely terrific!” said briq director Armin Falk.