Klaus M. Schmidt Why Do Decision Makers Reciprocate to Gifts?
Klaus M. Schmidt is Full Professor of Economics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. He was also Visiting Professor at Harvard University, University of California at Berkeley, Yale University and Stanford University. His research interests include contract theory, game theory, and behavioral economics. Among his advisory duties is that of Corresponding Member of the Council of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings and that of member of the Advisory Board of the German Federal Minister for Economics and Technology. He has also been editor for a number of journals and is currently Senior Editor of Economic Policy. Since 2005, he is Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences.
Area of Research
Contract Theory, Game Theory, Behavioral Economics, Experimental Economics, Industrial Organization, Competition Policy /Wettbewerbspolitik, Privatization, Auctions and Procurement, Venture Capital, Political Economy
since 1995
Full Professor
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
Department of Economics
2017
Visiting Professor
Harvard University
2013
Visiting Professor
Harvard University
2009
Visiting Professor
University of California, Berkeley
2004-2005
Visiting Professor
Yale University
2002-2004
Dean of the Faculty of Economics
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
2000
Visiting Professor
Stanford University
1993-1995
Assistant Professor
University of Bonn (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn)
1992-1993
Visiting Assistant Professor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
1987-1991
Teaching Assistant
University of Bonn (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn)
1995
Habilitation in Economics
University of Bonn (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn)
1991
PhD in Quantitative Economics
University of Bonn (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn)
1987
Diploma in Economics and Political Studies
University of Hamburg (Universität Hamburg)
- Fellow of the Econometric Society
- Fellow of the European Economic Association
- Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Prizes
- Cross of Merit, First Class, of the Federal Republic of Germany (2017)
- Gossen Prize of the German Economic Association (2001)
- Prize of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (2001)
- “Teaching Prize” of the Bavarian Ministry of Science (2000)
Mostly, reciprocity is seen as a positive act. It helps people to cooperate and to engage in mutually beneficial exchange. KLAUS M. SCHMIDT, however, is interested in the negative aspects of reciprocity, for instance when a decision maker is offered a gift by an interested party. His research is focused on two aspects: Why do people reciprocate? And are the remedies discussed, such as disclosure and size limits, really effective measures? As he relates in this video, his research group set up a controlled lab experiment to tackle these questions. In different treatments, varying gift sizes and disclosure, they found that most people reciprocate when given a gift (or not given a gift) but that increasing gift size or disclosure of the gift giving has little effects on the reciprocity of the decision maker. From these results, the researchers were able to propose a new theory to explain reciprocal behavior.
LT Video Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10597
