Colin F. Camerer
Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics; T&C Chen Center for Social and Decision Neuroscience Leadership Chair; Director, T&C Chen Center for Social and Decision Neuroscience
B.A., Johns Hopkins University, 1976; M.B.A., University of Chicago, 1979; Ph.D., 1981. Visiting Associate, Caltech, 1993; Rea A. and Lela G. Axline Professor of Business Economics, 1994-2008; Kirby Professor of Behavioral Finance and Economics, 2008; Kirby Professor, 2008-;Chen Center for Social and Decision Neuroscience Leadership Chair, 2017-; Executive Officer, 2017-19; Director, Chen Center for Social and Decision Neuroscience, 2017- .
Profile
Colin F. Camerer is a behavioral economist. With the goal of improving the economic analysis of decisions, games, and markets, he uses methods from psychology and neuroscience, including eye-tracking, lesion patients, EEG, fMRI, wearable sensors, machine learning, and animal behavior. His recent research has focused on visual salience and
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Research Summary
Neuroeconomics; Behavioral Game Theory; Risky Choice; Salience and Attention; Habits; Experimental Economics; Behavioral Economics; Limited Strategic Thinking; Patience; Stock Market Bubbles; Neuroscience of Economic Decisions; Scientific Reproducibility
Selected Awards
- MacArthur Fellowship 2013
- Honorary Doctorate, Stockholm School of Economics 2019
Caltech Affiliations
- Caltech Brain Imaging Center (CBIC)
- T&C Chen Center for Social and Decision Neuroscience
- The Ronald and Maxine Linde Institute of Economic and Management Sciences
- Center for Theoretical and Experimental Social Sciences (CTESS)
- Computation and Neural Systems, program organized jointly by the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering and the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy.
External Affiliations
- Wharton Neuroscience Initiative Fellow, 2016–present
Featured News
No Magic Number for Time It Takes to Form Habits
April 17, 2023
New machine learning study finds different habits take varying amounts of time to take root.
Caltech Celebrates 100 Years of Watson Lectures
October 10, 2022
At 7:30 p.m. PDT on October 12, Colin Camerer, the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics and director of the T&C Chen Center for Social and Decision Neuroscience, will launch the 100th anniversary season of the Earnest C. Watson lecture series.
"What Is a Short Squeeze?" and Other Pressing Stock Market Questions Answered
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February 23, 2021
Colin Camerer discusses armchair traders and the latest stock market frenzy.
Selected Publications
- Wang, Stephanie W.;Camerer, Colin F. (2024) Allocators are more prosocial when affected agents can visually eavesdropJournal of Economic Behavior & Organization
- Holzmeister, Felix;Johannesson, Magnus et al. (2024) Examining the replicability of online experiments selected by a decision marketNature Human Behaviour
- Chapman, Jonathan;Snowberg, Erik et al. (2024) Looming Large or Seeming Small? Attitudes Towards Losses in a Representative SampleReview of Economic Studies
- Brown, Alexander L.;Imai, Taisuke et al. (2024) Meta-analysis of Empirical Estimates of Loss AversionJournal of Economic Literature
- Camerer, Colin;Xin, Yi et al. (2024) A neural autopilot theory of habit: Evidence from consumer purchases and social media useJournal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
- Buyalskaya, Anastasia;Ho, Hung et al. (2023) What can machine learning teach us about habit formation? Evidence from exercise and hygieneProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Camerer, Colin F. (2022) The apparent prevalence of outcome variation from hidden "dark methods" is a challenge for social scienceProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Yang, Ruihan;Ma, Yina et al. (2022) Dynamic neural reconfiguration for distinct strategies during competitive social interactionsNeuroImage
- Li, Xiaomin;Camerer, Colin F. (2022) Predictable Effects of Visual Salience in Experimental Decisions and GamesQuarterly Journal of Economics
- Tashjian, Sarah M.;Fedrigo, Virginia et al. (2022) Physiological Responses to a Haunted-House Threat Experience: Distinct Tonic and Phasic EffectsPsychological Science