Peter Wakker

Peter Wakker
Born (1956-03-16) March 16, 1956
Academic background
Alma materNijmegen University
Tilburg University[2]
Doctoral advisorPieter Ruys
Stef Tijs
David Schmeidler[2]
InfluencesBruno de Finetti, Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky, Peter C. Fishburn
Academic work
DisciplineBehavioral economics, Decision theory
Doctoral studentsHan Bleichrodt
AwardsINFORMS Frank P. Ramsey Medal[1]
Website

Peter P. Wakker (/ˈvɑːkər/; born March 16, 1956) is a Dutch economist. He is a professor of Behavioral Economics at the Erasmus School of Economics, in Rotterdam, and a research fellow at the Tinbergen Institute.[3][4] He is considered one of most important researchers in the fields of behavioral economics and decision theory.[5]

Wakker's research within behavioral economics is mostly related to understanding our attitudes towards uncertainty, risk and ambiguity. He has also done research in axiomatic decision theory, in particular related to the utility representation of preferences. In both of those fields, Wakker has done both theoretical and experimental work.

Biography

Life and education

Peter P. Wakker was born in Herwen en Aerdt on March 16, 1956. His father was a border custom's agent. Wakker studied Mathematics and Physics at the University of Nijmegen, from where he got a Master's degree in Mathematics, with a specialization in probability theory and statistics. During that time, he was very influenced by de Finetti and Bayesian statistics.[6]

Wakker earned his PhD in 1986 from Tilburg University's Center for Economic Research (CentER), under the supervision of Pieter Ruys and Stef Tijs. During his PhD, he did some work at the Tel Aviv University under the supervision of David Schmeidler.[6]

Career

From 1992 to 2000, Wakker was a professor at the Medical Decision Making Unit of Leiden University's Medical Center. He was also a professor at the universities of Maastricht, Tilburg, and Amsterdam. Since 2005, he has been a professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam, initially at the Econometric Institute and since 2010 at the Erasmus School of Economics.[7]

Publications

Books

  • Wakker, Peter (1988). Additive Representations of Preferences: A New Foundation of Decision Analysis. Springer. ISBN 978-9048140367.

Selected papers

References

  1. ^ "Frank P. Ramsey Medal". INFORMS. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  2. ^ a b Wakker, Peter. "Curriculum vitae of Peter Wakker". Archived from the original on 26 December 2025. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  3. ^ "Peter Wakker". Tinbergen Institute. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  4. ^ "prof.dr. PP (Peter) Wakker". Erasmus University Rotterdam. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  5. ^ Abdellaoui, Mohammed; Bleichrodt, Han; Diecidue, Enrico; Zank, Horst (2022). "Introduction to the Special Issue in Honor of Peter Wakker". Theory and Decision. 92: 433–444. doi:10.1007/s11238-022-09886-9.
  6. ^ a b Heilmann, Conrad (2017). "Interview with Peter Wakker". The Reasoner. 11 (6): https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/thereasoner/issue/view/2390/665. ISSN 1757-0522. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  7. ^ Wakker, Peter. "Employments of Peter Wakker". Archived from the original on 26 December 2025. Retrieved 26 December 2025.