USA - Postdoctoral in Decision Sciences at Columbia University
Bursa Beasiswa Newsletter
University in Berlin and the University of Pennsylvania) seeks a
postdoctoral research fellow in Decision Sciences, for two to three
years, to plan and conduct laboratory research on the effects of
framing, multiple goals, and uncertainty in experimental games.
Multiple goals and uncertainty have generally been bypassed in
laboratory games, simply by assuming that payoffs are given as expected
utilities. Under a theory of constructed preference, this assumption
does not make sense. The proposed research pays close attention to
frames, multiple goals, and uncertainty. Our current focus is on two
broad types of game structure: (1) zero-sum games with intransitive
strategy cycles (generalizations of "paper-rock-scissors", including
some market-entry games); (2) non-zero sum games with multiple
equilibria (modifications of commons-dilemma games, in which
cooperative goals or externalities entail that non-cooperation is no
longer a dominating strategy). This latter class of games is currently
being studied with multiple framings: protective decisions,
environmental improvement, and entrepreneurship. Apart from the effect
of framing on goals, we are particularly interested in learning
processes in the stochastic environment and how they affect repeated
play of such games.
The research is to be conducted in collaboration with David H. Krantz
of Columbia, Howard C. Kunreuther of the Wharton School (Pennsylvania),
and Christian Schade of Humboldt. The postdoctoral research fellow will
work with these collaborators, and with students, assistants and
programmers in their respective laboratories, will be able to influence
research priorities, and will have a major role in designing and
overseeing experiments. The appointment is made through Columbia
University's Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy,
on a subcontract from Humboldt University's Institute for
Entrepreneurship. The postdoctoral fellow should expect to divide time,
not necessarily equally, between work in New York and in Berlin. The
position will begin at a mutually agreed upon time on or around January
1st, 2007. The fellow will be employed by Columbia University and
offered a competitive salary and benefits package.
Applicants should send a curriculum vita with cover letter by e-mail to
David H. Krantz (d...@columbia.edu) by December 1st, 2006.
Columbia University is an equal-opportunity employer.