David Kreps

Research Statement

David Kreps is an economic theorist of international reputation whose path-breaking work concerns dynamic choice behavior and economic contexts in which dynamic choices are key. He has contributed to the literatures of axiomatic choice theory, financial markets, dynamic games, bounded rationality, and human resource management.

Research Interests

• Dynamic choice
• Human resource management
• Behavioral economics

Bio

David Kreps joined the faculty of the Graduate School of Business in 1975, after completing a PhD in Operations Research in the Stanford School of Engineering. He has been a full professor since 1980, and today is the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management, with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Economics. From 2000 to 2009, he served as Senior Associate Dean.

Professor Kreps has been recognized for his research as a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and with an honorary doctorate from Universite Paris IX. In 1989, he was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal by the American Economic Association. In 2007, he received the CME Group/MSRI Prize in Innovative Quantitative Applications. In 2010 he was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association. In 2018 he was awarded the Carty Prize for the Advancement of Science by the National Academy of Sciences and was named the Erwin Plein Nemmers Prizewinner by Northwestern University. His 1989 Clarendon Lectures, Game Theory and Economic Modelling, have been translated into at least eight languages.

Professor Kreps has taught MBA and doctoral level courses in decision theory, microeconomics, statistics, operations, competitive strategy, game theory, and human resource management. He is the author or coauthor of four textbooks. In 1991, he was awarded the MBA Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2010 he was awarded the Robert T. Davis Faculty Award for his service to Stanford GSB.

Away from work, Professor Kreps enjoys cooking and coaching youth sports. His three children think he has a lame sense of humor, of which this sentence is probably a good example.

Academic Degrees

• MA and PhD, Stanford University, 1975
• AB, Dartmouth College, 1972

Academic Appointments

• Stanford GSB: Professor, 1980-present; Senior Associate Dean, 2000-09; Associate Professor, 1978-80; Assistant Professor, 1975-78
• Tel-Aviv University, Berglas School of Economics, Sackler Fellow, 1991-2006
• Visitor: Bocconi University 1992; St. Catherine's College Oxford 1990; CORE 1990; Tel-Aviv University 1989-90; Universite Paris IX 1986; Hebrew University 1985; Harvard University 1983; Cowles Foundation 1982; Churchill College Cambridge 1978-79

Awards and Honors

• The Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics, Northwestern University, 2018
• John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science, National Academy of Sciences, 2018
• Robert T. Davis Faculty Award, 2010
• Distinguished Fellow, American Economic Association, 2010
• MSRI Prize in Innovative Quantitative Applications, CME Group, 2007
• Doctorate Honoris Causa, Université Paris IX, 2001
• John Bates Clark Medal, American Economic Association, 1989
• Distinguished Teaching Award, MBA, 1991
• Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, 1989-90
• Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1983-85

Teaching

Degree Courses

2017-18

MGTECON 209: MSx: Microeconomics

This course is an introduction to Microeconomics, focusing on concepts and topics relevant to managerial decision making. Topics include the economics of relationships (reciprocity, reputation, credibility, and transaction-cost economics),...

2016-17

MGTECON 600: Microeconomic Analysis I

This course provides an introduction to the foundations of modern microeconomic theory. Topics include choice theory, with and without uncertainty, consumer and producer theory, dynamic choice and dynamic programming, social choice and efficiency...

Other Teaching

CEMEX Program

Enterprise Ireland Strategic Leadership 4 Chief Financial Officers Program

In the Media

2018 Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Northwestern University News, April 2018

2018 John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science Recipient

National Academy of Sciences, January 2018

The Future of the MBA

The Economist, August 5, 2002

Insights by Stanford Business

writtenDavid Kreps: Choice, Dynamic Choice, and Behavioral Economics

March 27, 2015

An economist explains why “rational choice” is sometimes irrational.

writtenGame Theory: A New Tool for Economists

November 1, 2000

In the last 25 years, many if not most significant innovations in economics have been driven by this methodological innovation.