Home » People » George Loewenstein, PhD, Director
George Loewenstein, PhD, Director
Carnegie Mellon University
208 Porter Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Office: PH 319D
Phone: 412-268-8787
Fax: 412-268-6938
E-mail: gl20@andrew.cmu.edu
alternate website
Research Interests
Dr. George Loewenstein is the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Economics and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. A founder of the fields of behavioral economics and neuroeconomics, his work focuses on examining the interface between economics and psychology. He is the former president of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making, a member of the Russell Sage Foundation Behavioral Economics Roundtable, served on the board of the Society for Neuroeconomics, has served on various committees of the National Academy of Science, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. With a recent book on the topic of Behavioral Economics and Human Motivation (Oxford University Press), Loewenstein is a specialist on the topic of human motivation and on the motivational effects of economic and non-economic incentives. He has also done extensive research on the topic of intertemporal choice (choices between immediate and delayed costs and benefits); the regulation of visceral urges, such as hunger, pain and drug craving; and decision making under risk. Dr. Loewenstein is also one of the founders of a new approach to using behavioral economics to improve individual behavior, variously referred to as "libertarian paternalism” and "asymmetric paternalism."
Selected Publications
- Camerer, C., Issacharoff, S. Loewenstein, G., O'Donoghue, T. & Rabin, M. (2003). Regulation for Conservatives: Behavioral Economics and the Case for "Asymmetric Paternalism" University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 1151(3), 1211-1254.
- Loewenstein, G., Brennan, T. and Volpp, K.G. (2007). Protecting People from Themselves: Using Decision Errors to Help People Improve Their Health. Journal of the American Medical Association. 298(20), 2415-2417.
- Loewenstein, G. and Haisley, E. (2008). The economist as therapist: Methodological issues raised by 'light' paternalism. In A. Caplin and A. Schotter (Eds.), "Perspectives on the Future of Economics: Positive and Normative Foundations", volume 1 in the Handbook of Economic Methodologies, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
- Loewenstein, G., John, L.K. and Volpp, K.G. (forthcoming). Using Decision Errors to Help People Help Themselves. In Eldar Shafir (Ed.). Behavioral Foundations of Policy. New York: Russell Sage Foundation Press.
- Loewenstein (2005). Hot-cold empathy gaps and medical decision-making. Health Psychology, 24(4), S49-S56.
- Camerer, C., Loewenstein, G., & Prelec, D. (2005). Neuroeconomics: How neuroscience can inform economics. Journal of Economic Literature. 43(1), 9-64.
- Cain, D.M., Loewenstein, G. & Moore, D.A. (2005). The dirt on coming clean: Perverse effects of disclosing conflicts of interest. Journal of Legal Studies, 34, 1-25.