Congratulations to our Dissertation Prize Winners Peter Maxted and Sarah Ridout

June 8, 2021

Sarah Ridout was awarded the Padma Desai Research Award for Economics.  Sarah Ridout

Sarah’s primary interests are at the intersection of decision theory and behavioral economics. Her most recent work studies decision making when inclinations conflict with principles, the connection between risk attitudes and emotions like anxiety or excitement, and the distortionary effects of past mistakes on future choice. She is also interested in the role of trust in belief updating and the process by which decision makers come to consider new models of the world. Her overall aim is to produce research that can help bridge the gap between behavioral theory and applied or experimental work. Sarah will be joining the Vanderbilt economics department as an assistant professor in the fall of 2021.

 

Peter Maxted

Peter Maxted was awarded the David A. Wells Prize in Economics for best dissertation.  

Peter Maxted's research interests span finance, macroeconomics, and behavioral economics. His dissertation research seeks to incorporate insights from behavioral economics into macroeconomic models in order to examine the aggregate implications of behavioral biases. In particular, his current work aims to understand the role of beliefs in the build-up to financial crises, and the effect of present bias on households’ consumption and saving decisions. Peter will be joining the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley as an Assistant Professor this fall.