Prof. Sandro Ambühl

UBS Foundation Assistant Professor for Behavioral Economics of Financial Markets

Discover Prof. Sandro Ambühl on

Sandro Ambühl obtained his PhD in economics from Stanford University in 2016. He joins the UBS Center from his previous position as Assistant Professor of Economics at the Department of Management, UTSC, and the Rotman School of Business, University of Toronto. One focus of Sandro's research studies how to help people make good financial decisions. A second strand of research concerns policies for the exchange of goods about which people have ethical intuitions, as is the case, for example, with incentives for vaccine uptake or clinical trial participation. He addresses these questions using a combination of controlled experiments and economic theory. In 2017 he was awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant “Using Behavioral Welfare Economics to Improve Financial Decision Making”. In 2022, his article "What Motivates Paternalism? An Experimental Study" (with B. Douglas Bernheim and Axel Ockenfels) was awarded the Exeter Prize for the best paper published in the previous calendar year in a peer-reviewed journal in the fields of Experimental Economics, Decision Theory and Behavioural Economics.

Interests

Financial Markets, Behavioral Economics, Economic Theory

UBS Foundation Assistant Professor for Behavioral Economics of Financial Markets

Prof. Sandro Ambühl

Discover Prof. Sandro Ambühl on

Sandro Ambühl obtained his PhD in economics from Stanford University in 2016. He joins the UBS Center from his previous position as Assistant Professor of Economics at the Department of Management, UTSC, and the Rotman School of Business, University of Toronto. One focus of Sandro's research studies how to help people make good financial decisions. A second strand of research concerns policies for the exchange of goods about which people have ethical intuitions, as is the case, for example, with incentives for vaccine uptake or clinical trial participation. He addresses these questions using a combination of controlled experiments and economic theory. In 2017 he was awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant “Using Behavioral Welfare Economics to Improve Financial Decision Making”. In 2022, his article "What Motivates Paternalism? An Experimental Study" (with B. Douglas Bernheim and Axel Ockenfels) was awarded the Exeter Prize for the best paper published in the previous calendar year in a peer-reviewed journal in the fields of Experimental Economics, Decision Theory and Behavioural Economics.

Interests

Financial Markets, Behavioral Economics, Economic Theory

Selected publications

Research

One focus of Sandro's research studies how to help people make good financial decisions. A second strand of research concerns policies for the exchange of goods about which people have ethical intuitions, as is the case, for example, with incentives for vaccine uptake or clinical trial participation. He addresses these questions using a combination of controlled experiments and economic theory. Sandro Ambühl's research has been featured in the popular press, including the Washington Post, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

One focus of Sandro's research studies how to help people make good financial decisions. A second strand of research concerns policies for the exchange of goods about which people have ethical intuitions, as is the case, for example, with incentives for vaccine uptake or clinical trial participation. He addresses these questions using a combination of controlled experiments and economic theory. Sandro Ambühl's research has been featured in the popular press, including the Washington Post, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Sandro Ambühl on Google Scholarbrowse

Videos

In the media

  • Besser nicht auf den Bauch hören Beobachter Artikel vom 20.2.2024 lesen

  • Better not to listen to your gut Beobachter article from 20.2.2024 read

  • Can Cash Cloud the Mind? Exploring the Influence of Incentives on Personal Choices Game Changer Podcast with Sandro Ambühl 5.6.2023 listen

  • „Wir brauchen eine Gefahrenzulage für Testpersonen“ WirtschaftsWoche Interview mit Sandro Ambühl vom 16.11.2020 lesen

  • For the best financial advice, ask somebody as uninformed as you The Star of 7.12.2018 read

  • Die Vorteile einer Entscheidungspflicht bei der Organspende Frankfurter Allgemeine vom 2.11.2018 lesen

  • Ein Angebot, das du nicht ablehnen kannst Frankfurter Allgemeine vom 3.1.2016 lesen

Quotes

Investors earn more if they remain inactive.
Beobachter, 20.2.2024
People are more different than we think. If political interventions, e.g. the introduction of a sugar tax or debt restrictions, are based on personal intuition instead of objective data, we will be systematically wrong.
Empirische Studien haben gezeigt, dass potenzielle Teilnehmer davon ausgehen, dass Tests mit höherem Risiko entsprechend besser bezahlt sind.
WirtschaftsWoche, 16.11.2020
An important focus of my research is the quality of individual decision-making behavior, especially when it comes to financial decisions. The literature shows not only that many people lack basic knowledge, but that they often make decisions that turn out to be very costly.

Interviews and features

2020

Images

Contact

Personal

Support Staff

Name:

Tamara Herz

Office hours:

Monday through Friday

Address

University of Zurich

Department of Economics, Blümlisalpstr. 10, 8006 Zürich
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