Thomas Graeber

Thomas Graeber is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches Negotiations in the MBA elective curriculum.

As an empirical behavioral and experimental economist, Professor Graeber’s research focuses on identifying the determinants and economic implications of bounded rationality and non-standard preferences as sources of deviations from canonical economic models. His main research efforts revolve around developing an improved empirical understanding of how complexity affects belief formation and choice given constrained cognitive resources, such as limited attention. Professor Graeber’s research utilizes laboratory and large-scale internet experiments, representative surveys, and field data.

Professor Graeber earned his Ph.D. in Economics from University of Bonn, Germany. He holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining HBS, Professor Graeber was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard University, Department of Economics.

Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLES

• Xiang, Yang, Thomas Graeber, Benjamin Enke, and Samuel Gershman. "Confidence and Central Tendency in Perceptual Judgment." Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 83, no. 7 (October 2021): 3024–3034.
• Falk, Armin, and Thomas Graeber. "Delayed Negative Effects of Prosocial Spending on Happiness." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 12 (March 24, 2020): 6463–6468.

WORKING PAPERS

• Graeber, Thomas, and Benjamin Enke. "Cognitive Uncertainty in Intertemporal Choice." (pdf) Working Paper, October 2021.
• Enke, Benjamin, and Thomas Graeber. "Cognitive Uncertainty." (pdf) Working Paper, August 2020.
• Graeber, Thomas. "Inattentive Inference." (pdf) Working Paper, January 2021.
• Graeber, Thomas, and Thiemo Fetzer. "Measuring the Scientific Effectiveness of Contact Tracing: Evidence from a Natural Experiment." (pdf) Working Paper, May 2021.
• Graeber, Thomas, Yang Xiang, Benjamin Enke, and Samuel Gershman. "Bayesian Signatures of Confidence and Central Tendency in Perceptual Judgment." (pdf) Working Paper, March 2021.
• Goette, Lorenz, Thomas Graeber, Alex Kellogg, and Charles Sprenger. "Heterogeneity of Gain-Loss Attitudes and Expectations-Based Reference Points." (pdf) Working Paper, October 2020.
• Graeber, Thomas, Felix Chopra, Philipp Eisenhauer, and Armin Falk. "Intertemporal Altruism." (pdf) Working Paper, November 2020.