Rate My Professor Paul Heidhues

Professor Paul Heidhues holds the Chair in Behavioral and Competition Economics at the Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE), Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, since October 2016. He is also Distinguished Affiliate Professor at the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin since 2016. Previously, he served as Lufthansa Chair in Competition and Regulation and Professor of Economics at ESMT from 2010 to 2016, Associate Professor at Universität Bonn from 2005 to 2010, and Research Fellow at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) from 1999 to 2005. Heidhues earned his PhD in Economics from Rice University in 2000, Master's in Economics from the Australian National University in 1993, and Habilitation from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in 2005. His academic career includes visiting positions at institutions such as University of California Berkeley, Dartmouth College, and Central European University.

Heidhues specializes in behavioral industrial organization, competition policy, behavioral economics, and applied game theory. His research investigates market functioning amid consumer psychological factors like loss aversion, time-inconsistency, naivete, and social preferences. He examines firm strategies in pricing, credit contracts, innovation, and data collection, alongside implications for consumer protection regulation, price discrimination, privacy, and welfare. Notable publications include 'Exploiting Naivete about Self-Control in the Credit Market' (American Economic Review, 2010, with Botond Kőszegi), 'Unrealistic Expectations and Misguided Learning' (Econometrica, 2018, with Botond Kőszegi and Philipp Strack), 'Naivete-Based Discrimination' (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2017, with Botond Kőszegi), 'Steering Fallible Consumers' (Economic Journal, 2023, with Martin Köster and Botond Kőszegi), and 'Browsing versus Studying: A Pro-Market Case for Regulation' (Review of Economic Studies, 2021, with Johannes Johnen and Botond Kőszegi). Heidhues has received honors including CEPR Research Fellow in Industrial Organization, CESifo Fellow in Behavioral Economics, membership in the European Advisory Group on Competition Policy (2020-2024), UK Competition and Markets Authority Academic Panel (2016-2020), and the 2023 Jerry S. Cohen Memorial Fund Writing Award. He has held editorial roles such as Associate Editor for the Journal of Industrial Economics (2005-2010) and serves on committees like the Executive Committee of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (EARIE).