Decisions Under Uncertainty: From Theory to Practice

Decision Theory is, in its essence, an interdisciplinary field that draws on economics, mathematics, statistics, machine learning, operations research, forecasting, behavioral sciences and cognitive psychology. Broadly speaking, decision research in economics addresses three fundamental and inter-related questions. First, how should people make decisions? This question is at the heart of economics, and often serves as a baseline for evaluating human decision-making. Second, how do people really make decisions? Recent research has explored the ways in which people are "boundedly rational" and utilize rules-of-thumb and shortcuts to formulate judgments and to choose among alternatives. Typically, these shortcuts do well, but equally often they lead to systematic biases and serious errors. Finally, given what we know about rational decision-making and actual behavior, how can we help people, from individual decision makers to managers and governments, improve their decision-making?

Research in decision theory employs a variety of techniques to understand and improve decisionmaking under uncertainty, ranging on one hand from theoretical models and quantitative decision theory to experimental and empirical analysis of decision-making in the real world. The recent socioeconomic crisis induced by the pandemic has brought decision-making - at both the individual and governmental level - into focus.

With the interdisciplinary nature and increasing salience of decision theory and the nature of uncertainty in mind, the goal of this conference is twofold. First, to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of decision research. Second, to discuss the latest developments and practical applications in a variety of different felds. All invited talks are interdisciplinary in nature and in methodology and will be given by leading experts in their respective fields. Theoretical talks will provide new theoretical models with a focus on a real world application and/or on how to make these models relevant in the real world. Fields of practical applications and real world examples of decision-making include data science, finance, psychology, artificial intelligence, and economics among others.

Itzhak Gilboa, HEC Paris

Olivier Sibony, HEC Paris

The conference is organized by the Institute of Economics of the University of St. Gallen and will place at the Einstein Conference Center of the University of St. Gallen:

Hotel Einstein
Berneggstrasse 2
9000 St. Gallen
www.einstein.ch

For Participants and Guests we have a lot of benefits:

• You are invited to attend the talks on both days of the conference (see program).
• You are invited for lunch and dinner on Wednesday, 18th of May 2022
• You are invited for lunch and the St. Gallen Excursion on Thursday, 19th of May 2022. 

The registration deadline has expired.

For more information, feel free to reach out to the organizing committee:
Ola Mahmoud: ola.mahmoud@unisg.ch