| Iris Bohnet | |
| Nationality: | Swiss |
| Occupation: | Professor |
| Spouse: | Michael Zürcher |
| Children: | 2 |
| Alma Mater: | University of Zurich |
| Discipline: | Economist |
| Sub Discipline: | Behavioral economics |
| Workplaces: | Harvard Kennedy School |
Iris Bohnet (born 1966) is a Swiss behavioral economist, and the Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government and the Academic Dean at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Her work focuses primarily on issues of gender, trust, and social preferences.[1]
A native of Lucerne, Switzerland, Bohnet studied at the chair of Bruno S. Frey and received her PhD in Economics from the University of Zurich in 1997, then spent a year as a research fellow at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley from 1997-1998. She joined the Harvard Kennedy School as an assistant professor in 1998 and was made full professor in 2006.
Bohnet is the director of the Women and Public Policy Program,[2] [3] co-chair of the Behavioral Insights Group,[4] and the faculty chair of the executive program, "Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century" for the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders at Harvard Kennedy School.[5]
Bohnet has served as the Academic Dean of Harvard Kennedy School[6] as well as on the boards or advisory boards of the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies, Switzerland; the Vienna University for Business and Economics, Austria; and the University of Lucerne, Switzerland.
Bohnet is the author of What Works: Gender Equality by Design.[7] The book, acclaimed by The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, among others, offers evidence-based solutions to overcome gender bias in classrooms and boardrooms, in hiring and promotion, benefiting businesses, governments, and society. It was included in lists of 2016's top books by Forbes, The Financial Times, LinkedIn, and The Washington Post.
In 2016, Bohnet has been a featured speaker at Google Book Talks, the LSE, the OECD, SXSW, UNESCO, UNWomen, the World Bank, and the World Economic Forum, among others.
Bohnet's work has been featured in media outlets around the world, including the Atlantic, the BBC, Bloomberg News, Boston Globe, The Economist, Financial Times, Forbes, Handelsblatt, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, NPR, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, New York Times, PBS, Tages-Anzeiger, Swiss Television, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Wired and WirtschaftsWoche.[8]
Her academic work has been published in many top-ranked peer-reviewed journals, including The American Economic Review, American Political Science Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Management Science, among many others.
Bohnet and her husband, Michael Zürcher (an attorney), have two children, the sons Dominik and Luca.[9] [10] She used to compete in synchronized swimming, loves scuba diving, and generally enjoys aquatic activities.