Prof. Anat Bracha is the Academic Director of the Financial Economics program and an Associate Professor in the Banking and Finance Department at the Hebrew University Business School, where her research integrates psychological insights into economics with practical applications to public policy.
Her work spans topics from risk perception to image motivation and negative interest rates. Her work on risk perception, for instance, provides insight as to why educational campaigns may be ineffective or even backfire; and her work on image motivation proposes conditions under which tax breaks would be most effective to encourage adoption of environmentally-friendly technologies.
Prior to joining the Hebrew University, Prof. Bracha was a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, an assistant professor at Tel Aviv University, and a visiting scholar at Harvard University, the University of Pittsburgh, and a visiting professor at Yale University. Her research has been published in the American Economic Review, Management Science, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Games and Economic Behavior, Labour Economics, Economics Letters, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, and the B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics.
Her work has been quoted in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Seeking Alpha, Bloomberg, the Boston Globe, Business Insider, The Economist, and Globes.
Prof. Bracha earned her Ph.D. in Economics at Yale University. She holds an M.Phil. and M.A. in Economics from Yale University, and a B.A. in Economics from Bar-Ilan University. Prof. Bracha teaches the courses Business Economics, and Game Theory.
- Publications
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“How Big is the Gig? The Extensive Margin, The Intensive Margin, and The Hidden Margin”, (with M. Burke), Labour Economics, Forthcoming.
“Investment Decisions and Negative Interest Rates”, Management Science, 2020, 66(11): 5316-5340.
“The Heterogeneous Effect of Affirmative Action on Performance”, (with A. Cohen and L. Conell-Price). Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2019, 158: 173-218.
“Wage Inflation and Informal Work”, (with M. A. Burke), Economics Letters, 2018, 171: 159-163.
“Relative Pay, Effort, and Labor Supply”, IZA World of Labor, 2017.
“Mixed Signals: Charity Reporting When Donations Signal Generosity and Income”, (with L. Vesterlund), Games and Economic Behavior, 2017, 104: 24-42.
“Public and Private Values”, (with D. Ariely and J-P. L’Huillier), Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 2016, 29: 550-555.
“Relative Pay and Labor Supply”, (with U. Gneezy and G. Loewenstein), Journal of Labor Economics, 2015, 33(2): 297-315.
"Asymmetric Responses to Tax-Induced Changes in Personal Income: The 2013 Payroll Tax Hike Versus Anticipated 2012 Tax Refunds", (with Daniel Cooper), Economic Letters, 2014, 124(3): 534-538.
“Competitive Incentives: Working Harder or Working Smarter?”, (with Chaim Fershtman), Management Science, 2013, 59(4):771-781.
“Shifting Confidence in Home Ownership: The Great Recession”, (with J. Jamison), B.E. Journal of Macroeconomic, 2012, 12(3): 1935-1690.
“Affective Decision-Making: A Theory of Optimism Bias”, (with D.J. Brown), Games and Economic Behavior, 2012, 75: 67-80.
“Seeds to Succeed? Sequential Giving to Public Projects”, (with M. Menietti and L. Vesterlund), Journal of Public Economics, 2011, 95: 416-42.
“Doing Good or Doing Well? Image Motivation and Monetary Incentives in Behaving Prosocially”, (with D. Ariely and S. Meier), American Economic Review, 2009, 99(1): 544–55.
Completed Papers
“Inflation Thresholds and Inattention”, (with J. Tang).
“Misjudge the Nudge? The (Mixed) Effect of Reminders on Creditworthiness”, (with S. Meier). 3. “The Ups and Downs of Informal Work”, (with M. Burke).
“A Psychological Perspective of Panic”, (with E. Weber).
“Optimal Level of Agents’ Private Information: An Uninformed Principal Perspective”.
- In the News
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The New York Times, Economic View, Dec 15, 2017.
Handelsblatt Global, Nov 10, 2017.
The Wall Street Journal, July 12, 2017.
Seeking Alpha, February 17, 2016.
The Wall Street Journal Online, January 22, 2016.
Bloomberg Briefs, June 15, 2015.
Bloomberg, March 31, 2015.
The Wall Street Journal, Market Watch, December 6, 2012.
The Boston Globe, December 5, 2012.
Business Insider, October 20, 2011.
The New York Times, Economix Blog, October 18, 2011.
The Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics Blog, October 18, 2011.
The Economist, January 15th 2009.
Globes – Israel’s Business Arena, November 27th 2008.
The Wall Street Journal, August 31st 2007.
- Awards & Honors
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Israel Science Foundation, 2009-2011
Israel Foundations Trustees Grant, 2008-2010
The Foerder Institute for Economic Research Grant, 2007
The Pinhas Sapir Center Grant, 2006-2007
Whitebox Advisors Doctoral Fellowship, 2004-05
Cowles Foundation Prize, Yale University, 2003
The Georg Walter Leitner Grant for Political Economics, 2002
John Perry Miller Fund Fellowship, 2002 (declined)
Yale Fellowship, Sept. 1999 – 2003
Rector’s Prize for the top student in economics (graduate level), Bar Ilan University, Israel, 1998
Dean’s List of top 3 percent of students in economics (undergraduate level), Bar-Ilan University, Israel, 1994-1997.