SOC funding has enabled Behavioral Economics, a relatively new group within the Erasmus School of Economics, to welcome a number of highly renowned visitors to conduct research in conjunction with the Behavioral Economics group. The successes achieved through the partnership with Technion University in Haifa, Israel, are particularly exciting. The Behavioral Economics group conducts both theoretical and empirical (experimental) research, and currently consists of behavioural economists.
Since 2009, Professor Ido Erev (Technion University, Haifa) has spent one month each year at the Erasmus School of Economics as a visiting professor.
His presence has given a significant boost to the Behavioral Economics group, in the first instance due to the production of various joint articles, a number of which have already appeared in the world’s top journals. He has also worked very closely with PhD students from the department, which has recently had a particularly encouraging effect and has led to a number of exciting collaborations.
The presence of Ido Erev has accelerated the establishment of a formal partnership between the Erasmus School of Economics and Technion, which was signed and ratified by both deans in a Memorandum of Understanding. Through this partnership, two PhD students (Amit Kothiyal and Vitalie Spinu) spent a month at Technion as visiting researchers in May 2011, and two of Ido Erev’s students visited the Erasmus School of Economics for a month in September of the same year. In January 2012, Behavioral Economics collaborated with Ido Erev’s own group to organise a workshop in Israel on behaviour under risk conditions. This workshop will be held once again in January 2014. His presence as Visiting Professor (and that of visiting professors from other renowned universities) has strengthened the international image of Behavioural Economics, and paved the way for long-term visits by other outstanding researchers such as Enrico Diecidue (INSEAD), Maik Dierks (Münster), Olivier l’Haridon (Sorbonne, Paris), Laetitia Placido (Paris) and Ulrich Schmidt (Kiel). When asked about the reason for their visit, they all answered that the Behavioral Economics group is currently the leader in Europe.