Shlomo Benartzi

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Shlomo Benartzi is an American behavioral economist, known for his research on retirement savings and the Save More Tomorrow nudge. [1] Benartzi is currently a Professor Emeritus at the UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles, California. [2]

Contents

Academic career

Benartzi received a bachelor's degree from Tel Aviv University and a Ph.D. from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management. [3] Along with Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago, he developed the Save More Tomorrow program (SMarT) which helps employees improve their savings rates over time. The SMarT program is now implemented by the majority of large retirement plans in the United States. [4] Key elements of Save More Tomorrow have also been included in the Pension Protection Act of 2006. [4]

In addition, Benartzi has collaborated on research examining the financial decision-making of individual investors, such as his work on myopic loss aversion [5] and naïve diversification. [6]

Benartzi's current focus is online behavior, studying the ways in which people behave differently in the digital world. [7] The end goal is to use this knowledge to design more effective digital interfaces. [8]

In 2018, Benartzi was named Distinguished Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Behavior Change for Good Initiative. [9]

Writing

Benartzi is the author of three books. His first book was Save More Tomorrow [10] —it focused on improving retirement outcomes by using behavioral insights. His second book, Thinking Smarter, outlined a new approach to reflecting on major life decisions and setting life goals. His most recent book is The Smarter Screen, which outlines the latest research on digital nudging and online behavioral interventions. [11]

In addition, Benartzi is a frequent contributor to the Wealth section of The Wall Street Journal, where he writes on the subjects of behavioral finance and personalized finance. [12]

Business activities

Benartzi has served as Chief Behavioral Economist for the Allianz Global Investors Center for Behavioral Finance. [13] He is currently Senior Academic Advisor for the Voya Behavioral Finance Institute for Innovation. [14] In addition, Benartzi has served on advisory boards for Acorns, WisdomTree, idomoo, Morningstar and Personal Capital. [15] He is also the founder of Digitai, a consulting firm that designs digital interventions that benefit consumers, businesses and society. [16] He is also an advisor to Ant Transaction Machines, Inc. ATM.com hosts info concerning this Acorns-flavored idea. [17]

Government activities

Benartzi has advised government agencies in the U.S. and abroad while helping to craft numerous legislative efforts. Benartzi currently serves as Chief Scientist for the California Digital Nudge Initiative helping the state develop digital interventions to address societal challenges. [18]

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References

  1. ↑ "Saving for tomorrow, tomorrow". Ted.com. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  2. ↑ "Shlomo Benartzi's Vita - UCLA Anderson School of Management". Anderson.ucla.edu. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  3. ↑ "Shlomo Benartzi Receives Applied retirement Research Award - Life & Health ADVISORLife & Health ADVISOR". Life & Health Advisor. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  4. 1 2 Benartzi, Shlomo, and Richard H. Thaler. "Behavioral economics and the retirement savings crisis." Science 339.6124 (2013): 1152-1153.
  5. ↑ Benartzi, Shlomo, and Richard H. Thaler. "Myopic Loss Aversion and the Equity Premium Puzzle." The Quarterly Journal of Economics 110.1 (1995): 73-92.
  6. ↑ Benartzi, Shlomo, and Richard H. Thaler. "Naive diversification strategies in defined contribution saving plans." American Economic Review 91.1 (2001): 79-98.
  7. ↑ Benartzi, Shlomo with Jonah Lehrer. The Smarter Screen: Surprising ways to influence and improve online behavior. Portfolio, 2015.
  8. ↑ Wang, Penelope (December 7, 2015). "How Your Phone Is Costing You (Even More) Money". Money.com . Archived from the original on February 28, 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  9. ↑ "Shlomo Benartzi named Distinguished Senior Fellow at Behavior Change for Good Initiative". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  10. ↑ Benartzi, Shlomo. Save More Tomorrow: Practical behavioral finance solutions to improve 401 (k) plans. Penguin, 2012.
  11. ↑ Benartzi, Shlomo, and Jonah Lehrer. The Smarter Screen: Surprising ways to influence and improve online behavior. Portfolio, 2015.
  12. ↑ Benartzi, Shlomo; Hershfield, Hal E. (27 March 2017). "Would You Rather Have $1 Million or $5,000 Monthly in Retirement?". Wsj.com. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  13. ↑ "Behavioral Finance Experts - Center for Behavioral Finance - Allianz Global Investors". Befi.allianzgi.com. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  14. ↑ "Voya Financial Launches Behavioral Finance Institute for Innovation - About Voya Financial". Corporate.voya.com. 18 October 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  15. ↑ Capital, Personal. "Harry Markowitz and Shlomo Benartzi Join Personal Capital Board of Academic Advisors". Prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  16. ↑ "Digitai". Digitai.org. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  17. ↑ "Get paid for your data! It's fast and easy to use". www.atm.com. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  18. ↑ "Pro Tem De León Announces CA "Digital Nudge" Initiative". Sd24.senate.ca.gov. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
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