UBC IDEA

A leader in his field, Austrian neuroeconomist Ernst Fehr from Zürich University challenges the simplistic assumption that preferences are homogeneous and static.

In his research, Fehr provides empirical evidence that preferences are shaped by societies and gives a nod to behavioural economists before him who have aimed to explain inconsistencies in human rationale.

While addressing a room full of economists, Fehr, with humour, points out that "there is the economist way of thinking and there is everyone else's thought process. To the majority of the world, we're"
[the economists] the crazy ones".

On immoral and sometimes reckless behaviour in the financial sector, alluding to the 2008 global financial crisis, Fehr critiques the banking culture and in one experiment finds that bankers are as honest, if not more honest, that workers in other professions but are corrupted by a culture which encourages risky behaviour. He says "we found that bankers typically don't cheat lest they are reminded they are bankers"

Fehr is published in the most prestigious journals in economics and is widely acclaimed for his work on ethics.

A big thank you to the UBC Learning Exchange for having us over for the New Perspective on Learning in the Downtown Eastside conference today