Short Bio of Jean-Robert Tyran 

I am a Professor of Economics at the University of Vienna and director of the Vienna Center for Experimental Economics (VCEE). Prior to joining the University of Vienna in 2010, I held positions at the University of Copenhagen (2004-2010), and at the University of St. Gallen since (1997-2004). I received my PhD in economics from the University of Zurich in 1997. 

My research interests are broad, spanning topics in Political Economy and Public Economics. More generally, I explore how institutions -- such as markets and democracy -- are shaped by bounded rationality and social preferences. According to IDEAS/RePEc, my work primarily falls within the following fields (click on “more” and scroll down to “NEP fields”): Experimental Economics, Cognitive and Behavioral Economics, Collective Decision-Making, Positive Political Economics, Social Norms and Social Capital, Public Economics. 

My current research projects address a range of timely issues. These include enhancing the resilience of democracy (e.g., in the face of fake news, emotional politics, and vote buying), fostering political acceptance of immigration, correcting misperceptions of the welfare state, and improving workplace norms in Japan.

I have published more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including field journals such as Journal of Public Economics, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics as well as top general-interest journals such as American Economic Review, Econometrica, Review of Economic Studies, Economic Journal, Journal of the European Economic Association and Science. According to ideas.repec, I am one of the top economists in Austria (see ​"Authors").

I have held editorial roles with several academic journals, including Experimental Economics, European Journal of Political Economy, Journal of the Economic Science Association,  Journal of Experimental Political Science, and Judgment and Decision Making. I have also contributed to organizations such as the Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics, the Economic Science Association, and the German Economic Association.

My teaching is closely aligned with my research. At the University of Vienna, I teach “Principles of Public Economics and Political Economy,” a course that explores the interrelations of the economy, society and the state. I also teach an interdisciplinary research seminar in Philosophy and Economics. Over the years, I have been teaching courses in Behavioral and Experimental Economics at various institutions, including the LSE (London), SSE (Stockholm), EUBA (Bratislava), the University of Belgrade, and Université Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to receive numerous fellowships (e.g. CEPR, London; CESifo, Munich), research stipends (CEU Budapest, EIEF Rome, SciencePo Paris), and visiting appointments at leading institutions, including the Harvard Kennedy School, Keio University (Tokyo), London School of Economics, Caltech, among others). I am a member of Academia Europaea and a part-time Professor at the University of Copenhagen. 

Academic leadership and service have always been important to me. At the University of Zurich, I represented junior faculty (“Mittelbau”), and at the University of St. Gallen, I was as a  member of the Senate. At the University of Vienna, I held several leadership positions, including Vice-Dean of Research (2014-16), Dean of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Statistics (2016-18), and Vice-Rector for Research and International Affairs (02/2018 - 09/2022). I am also actively engaged in the evaluation and accreditation of academic institutions, for example, as an expert for the European Research Council (ERC), the Swiss National Science foundation (SNSF), the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Swiss Accreditation Council.