Economics prof awarded Guggenheim fellowship
Contact:
Arthur Robson, 778.782.4669; robson@sfu.ca
Marianne Meadahl, 778.782.3210; Marianne_Meadahl@sfu.ca
Simon Fraser University economics professor Arthur Robson has been awarded a prestigious Guggenheim fellowship for his longstanding work on evolution and economics.
The fellowship, awarded by the U.S. based John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is for a 12-month period starting in January 2012, during which time he’ll work on a project entitled the Biological Basis of Economic Behavior.
Robson holds SFU’s Canada Research Chair in Economic Theory and Evolution and researches “the biological underpinnings” of how evolution influences human economic behavior and its implications for economic theory.
His research bridges biology, anthropology and economics, and has led to new insights that are transforming how scientists look at human economic behavior. As scientists recognize the potential of evolutionary biology to provide insights into economic phenomena, the research is attracting significant attention.
“There are a number of circumstances favoring a re-evaluation of the foundations of economics,” says Robson, “including not only the very recent international financial meltdown but also the less recent growth of behavioral economics, a field that draws inspiration from psychology.”
Robson is convinced that modern economic behavior “can be brightly illuminated” by considering its biological and evolutionary roots. His interest in evolutionary economics began more than 20 years ago – as an aside to studying pure game theory – but soon grew to become his key focus.
Robson was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2009 and is also one of a rare few Canadian Fellows of the Econometric Society (2007). In 2000 he was awarded a Canada Council for the Arts Killam Research Fellowship and early in his career received a Fulbright Fellowship.
Robson will also be a visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford University, later this year.
The Guggenheim Fellowships have been given annually since 1925 and awarded on the basis of “prior achievement and exceptional promise.”
The foundation was established by the former senator and his wife as a memorial to their son who died in 1922. This year, 180 fellowships were awarded out of a pool of about 3,000 applicants.
Among Fellows in field of economics distinguished over the years, 22 subsequently won the Nobel Prize in Economics.
“Arthur is joining an exceptionally distinguished group of Fellows, especially as the past recipients in each field rank applications and make recommendations regarding the new Fellows,” notes Nicholas Schmitt, chair of economics at SFU.
Vice-President Research Mario Pinto adds, "Arthur is among only five Canadian researchers on this year's recipient list. This is a much-deserved recognition of his talents and accomplishments. Arthur's work is a great example of the bold and innovative interdisciplinary research that is defining SFU."
Past SFU Guggenheim Fellowships have been awarded to:
Ralph Maud (1966)
Geoffrey Bursull-Hall (1972)
Brian Newton (1974)
Paul Delany (1976)
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