Decision Sciences

HEC Paris Trains Future Professors

Our PhD Students Got Talent

This special issue aims to show the excellence and diversity of the research conducted by HEC Paris PhD candidates and alumni. You will find a selection of cutting-edge findings, answering crucial questions such as: Is AI a threat to human creativity? Should we listen to the Wall Street gurus? How to better manage one’s promotion? How much do we value our private data? What are ambiguity and risk attitudes? How bad is the mere presence of a phone? HEC Paris PhD Program, headed by finance professor Johan Hombert, supports its students throughout their thesis writing and job placement in the best universities and business schools, such as the MIT, Wharton and Harvard Business School. Most PhD alumni continue to collaborate with professors at HEC, thanks to the strong relationships they have developed during their journey.

October 13th, 2021

Decision Sciences

April 09th, 2021

6 minutes

When Videos Become Viral: Why, How and What Consequences?

By Haris Krijestorac

viral videos - AdobeStock_Editorial_Use_Only

Decision Sciences

November 13th, 2020

How Believing in Unsubstantiated Claims Leads to Polarization

The COVID-19 pandemic has fostered the sharing of conflicting and unsubstantiated claims by public figures. Early November, a deeply divided nation elected Joe Biden as the President of the United States. A recent research published by professors Anne-Sophie Chaxel of HEC Paris and Sandra Laporte of Toulouse School of Management reveals that individuals believe in unsubstantiated claims when shared by favorite public figures, explaining polarization in opinions. In this article, Anne-Sophie Chaxel explains how rational people come to strongly believe in unchecked claims.

By Anne-Sophie Chaxel

donald trump and doctors - vignette - PICRYL

State of the Art

How to Improve Decision Making

This in-depth issue features the latest and cutting-edge research findings on decision making from HEC Paris' professors. We hope that the tools presented will help you think your decision making from new angles and to elaborate appropriate strategies in various situations, especially during these times of uncertainty. Find the review here.

June 11th, 2020

Decision Sciences

June 09th, 2020

A New Theory in Economics Helps Predict Future Events

When will be the next financial crisis? Who is going to win the next US presidential elections? How do we create beliefs about such events? By understanding how probabilistic beliefs form, economic theorists can now explain and predict phenomena that depend on rational beliefs. Latest research by Rossella Argenziano and Itzhak Gilboa equips economic modeling with a theory and a set of tools of belief formation, based on statistics and psychology. Some of the immediate applications are the equilibrium selection in coordination games.

By Itzhak Gilboa

black swan on a lake - vignette - Tatiana-AdobeStock

Decision Sciences

June 08th, 2020

A New Definition of Comparative Ambiguity Attitude

HEC Paris Ph.D. student Fan Wang unveiled a new definition of ambiguity attitude during the latest D-TEA conference on decision making, organized by HEC Paris Professor Itzhak Gilboa. This was acknowledged and congratulated by decision-theory expert Peter Wakker. In this interview, Mr Wang explains what does he brings both to the field of decision sciences and to practice.

Ph.D. Student

Economics and Decision Sciences

Decision Sciences

May 29th, 2020

Uncertainty Across Disciplines

We, individuals and society, are faced today with many important decisions involving radical degrees of uncertainty. To better communicate on the current state of knowledge about uncertainty, and incorporate it into decisions, Brian Hill, CNRS and HEC Paris Professor of Economics and Decision Sciences, initiated the "Uncertainty Across Disciplines" project, interviewing 10 leading experts on the topic of uncertainty.

By Brian Hill

Decision Sciences

May 27th, 2020

3 Objectives to Create Intelligence in the Face of Uncertainty

Uncertainty is an invisible trap, set to blind our capacity to avoid nonsense and create actual intelligence. Why invisible? Because uncertainty is powered by what we do not know, which is particularly difficult to become aware of. Anne-Sophie Chaxel, HEC Paris Associate Professor of Marketing and expert in cognitive biases, gives three objectives to keep in mind to embrace uncertainty, along with practice tool boxes to create intelligence.

Associate Professor

Marketing

Decision Sciences

April 14th, 2020

8 minutes

Is It Rational to Stockpile in Times of Crisis?

The health crisis caused by COVID-19 has triggered an economic one. We observe a significant portion of the population fearing shortage of primary consumption goods and marked stockpiling behavior. Because such behavior increases the risk of shortage, several stores have decided to ration some goods, and governments have had to make public announcements to reassure consumers that there would be no shortage. Avoiding consumer stockpiling is hence one of the key aspects of the management of this crisis. But is it rational to stockpile in times of crisis? We review and discuss the rational and irrational aspects of such behavior.

By Emmanuel Kemel

someone cares a big pile of cardboard stacks - thumbnail

Decision Sciences

April 03rd, 2020

How to Deal with Severe Uncertainty?

Severe uncertainty, deep uncertainty, radical uncertainty, ambiguity… different actors in a range of fields – decision scientists, risk analysts, climate scientists, central bankers – use a variety of phrases to talk of some extreme, important yet too often ignored form of uncertainty. But what is it? And how should we deal with this particular species of uncertainty: how should we characterise it, communicate it, and decide in the face of it? In this interview, CNRS Research Director and HEC Paris Research Professor Brian Hill explains the concept and unveils applicable tools based on theoretical models for guiding decisions in situations of severe uncertainty.

By Brian Hill