Richard Jay Zeckhauser (born 1940) is an American

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

and the Frank P. Ramsey Professor of

Political Economy Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...

at the

Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public a ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. He holds a BA (''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

'') and a PhD in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analy ...

from

. Early in his career, he was one of the " whiz kids" assembled by Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara to apply cutting-edge analysis to Cold War military strategy. He is married to Sally H. Zeckhauser. He is the author or co-author of many books and over 300 peer-reviewed articles. His most significant works focus on risk management, decision sciences, investment, and policy-making under uncertainty. Zeckhauser introduced the term "ignorance" into decision-making under uncertainty, as in: there's "risk", "uncertainty", and outright "ignorance". His most recent book, with Peter Schuck, is ''Targeting in Social Programs.'' The book examines how and why to deploy scarce public resources to solve public problems. While he holds no formal office, he has long been an informal leader at the Kennedy School and at Harvard. He is also a consultant with Analysis Group. In 1994, he was elected to the

Common Cause Common Cause is a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., with chapters in 35 states. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican, who was the former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of President ...

National Governing Board.

Richwine controversy

Zeckhauser was on the dissertation committee at Harvard's Kennedy School that awarded former member of

The Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the preside ...

Jason Richwine with a Ph.D. for his thesis, "IQ and Immigration Policy". Criticized for the way it linked race to I.Q. levels, the thesis lost Richwine his job at the Foundation.

Bridge career

Zeckhauser is a champion

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

player.

Wins

North American Bridge Championships North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven da ...

(2) ** Blue Ribbon Pairs (1) 1966 **

Mixed Pairs Mixed is the past tense of ''mix''. Mixed may refer to: * Mixed (United Kingdom ethnicity category), an ethnicity category that has been used by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics since the 1991 Census * ''Mixed'' (album), a co ...

(1) 2007

Runners-up

(2) ** Men's Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1968 **

Mixed Board-a-Match Teams Mixed is the past tense of ''mix''. Mixed may refer to: * Mixed (United Kingdom ethnicity category), an ethnicity category that has been used by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics since the 1991 Census * ''Mixed'' (album), a co ...

(2) 2003, 2012

Significant works

* Summers, Lawrence, and Richard Zeckhauser. "Policymaking for posterity." Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 37.2-3 (2008): 115–140. * Zeckhauser, Richard.
Investing in the Unknown and Unknowable
" (2010): 77–117. * Samuelson, William, and Richard Zeckhauser.
Status quo bias in decision making
" Journal of risk and uncertainty 1, no. 1 (1988): 7–59. * Zeckhauser, Richard (2006
"Investing in the Unknown and Unknowable"
''Capitalism and Society'': Vol. 1 : Iss. 2, Article 5. * Schuck, Peter H. & Zeckhauser, Richard J. ''Targeting in Social Programs: Avoiding Bad Bets, Removing Bad Apples'', Brookings Institution Press, 2010, * Zeckhauser, Richard
''Strategy and choice''
MIT Press, 1991, * Zeckhauser, Richard, Keeney, Ralph L., Sebenius, James K
''Wise choices: decisions, games, and negotiations''
Harvard Business Press, 1996, *

Trivia

Zeckhauser is connected to the so-called

Yhprum's law Yhprum's law is the opposite of Murphy's law. The simple formula of Yhprum's law is: "Everything that can work, will work." "Yhprum" is "Murphy" spelled in reverse. A more specific formulation of the law by Richard Zeckhauser, a professor of poli ...

, the opposite of Murphy's law, saying: "Sometimes systems that should not work, work nevertheless."

References

External links

Official website

NBER Publications by Richard J. Zeckhauser
* (including 2 as second author 'Richard J.') * *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeckhauser, Richard 1940 births Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Harvard College alumni Harvard Kennedy School faculty 21st-century American economists Health economists American contract bridge players Living people Negotiation scholars Fellows of the Econometric Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Fellows of the American Economic Association National Bureau of Economic Research Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Members of the National Academy of Medicine