Thomas Buser wins Christiaan Huygens Science Award

Jury chairman Arnoud Boot lauded the research conducted by Thomas: “The thesis has significant value for society and the jury was impressed by the originality of the subject matter and the pioneering research conducted by the laureate”. The topics researched by Buser included whether economic choices were in part influenced by biological factors. His research contributes to a better understanding of the way people choose academic and professional careers and provides insight in gender differences in career choices and the labour market. The nomination of Thomas was supported by the University of Amsterdam and the Tinbergen Institute.

In 2014, Thomas’ PhD thesis was also recognized when he received the prestigious KVS Medal (‘Penning’) for having written and defended the best PhD thesis in the field of economics in the years 2011-2014, from the Royal Dutch Economic Association (‘Koninklijke Vereniging voor Staathuishoudkunde).

At the award ceremony on June 24, there were also honorable mentions for theses from other TI alumni: Dennie van Dolder (1984), Game Shows, Gambles, and Economic Behavior (Rotterdam, 2014); for TI fellow Hans van Kippersluis (1985), Understanding Socioeconomic Differences in Health (Rotterdam, 2010) and for Bernd Schwaab (1978), Credit Risk and State Space Methods (Amsterdam, 2011).

Thomas Buser (Basel, 1980) is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Amsterdam. His research interests include experimental economics, behavioral economics, lab and field experiments and education. Recently, Thomas published with TI fellow Hessel Oosterbeek, et. al in one of the top journals in economics, namely the Quarterley Journal of Economics (2014). He also published in journals including Games and Economic Behavior and Experimental Economics. Thomas successfully defended his PhD thesis on 4 September 2012 entitled Essays in Behavourial Economics at the University of Amsterdam. Supervisors were TI fellows Hessel Oosterbeek and Erik Plug.

Thomas is an alumnus of the TI MPhil program (cum laude, 2009) and holds an MSc Economics from the University of Warwick (United Kingdom). In 2014,  Thomas Buser was awarded a € 250.000 Veni grant by NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) for his research project ‘Using behavioural economics to understand gender differences in career choices: the causes and effects of the gender difference in competitiveness’. Read more about Thomas’ research.