Gary Charness

Gary Charness (February 3, 1950 – 17 May 2024) was Professor of Economics and the Director of the Experimental and Behavioral Economics Laboratory in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Charness was an economist and social scientist, specializing in experimental and behavioral work; at the time of his death he was ranked 3rd in the world by RePEc in the field of experimental economics and had published nearly 120 academic articles. Charness was a contributor to several areas of economic research, including social preferences, identity and group membership, communication and beliefs, behavioral interventions, group decision-making, social networks, gender, and individual decision-making. Gary was known for his youthful spirit throughout his career, inspiring and motivating researchers worldwide across various fields. Remarkably, he began his Ph.D. at the age of 40 and published his first paper at 50. Despite starting his academic journey later in life, Gary managed to publish around 100 papers between the ages of 50 and 70, establishing himself as one of the leading researchers in experimental economics. A centerpiece of his research has been to affect beneficial social outcomes in difficult economic environments. Charness's work has been discussed and published in The New York Times and Science, as well as other media outlets. Charness was married and had three children. Provided by Wikipedia