Anat Bracha is an economist in the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, as part of the Research Center for Behavioral Economics. In her research she incorporates psychological motives into standard economic models of decisionmaking under risk, and examines motives such as image motivation and status in prosocial behavior. Her work has been published in the American Economic Review and is forthcoming in the Journal of Public Economics. Bracha received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale, and prior to joining the Fed in 2009 she was an assistant professor at Tel Aviv University and a post-doc associate at MIT.
Ph.D. (Economics), Yale University, 2005
M. Phil. (Economics), Yale University, 2002
M.A. (Economics), Yale University, 2001
B.A. (Economics, summa cum laude), Bar-Ilan University, Israel, 1997
Refereed journal articles
“Doing Good or Doing Well? Image Motivation and Monetary Incentives in Behaving Prosocially," with D. Ariely and S. Meier. American Economic Review. 99(1): 544–555 (2009).
“Seeds to Succeed? Sequential Giving to Public Projects," with M. Menietti and L. Vesterlund. Journal of Public Economics. forthcoming.
Working papers and other unpublished papers
"Affective Decision Making: A Theory of Optimism Bias," with Donald J. Brown. FRB Boston Working Papers Series, paper no. 10-16 (2010).
"Public and Private Values," with Dan Ariely and Jean-Paul L'Huillier. FRB Boston Working Papers Series, paper no. 10-5, (2010).
“Optimal Level of Agents' Private Information: An Uninformed Principal Perspective." Working paper.
“Affective Decision-Making: A Behavioral Theory of Choice," with D. Brown. Working paper.
“Charitable Giving: The Effect of Exogenous and Endogenous Status ," with O. Heffetz and L. Vesterlund. Working paper .
Israel Science Foundation, 2009–2011 (with C. Fershtman).
Israel Foundations Trustees Grant, 2008–2010.
The Foerder Institute for Economic research Grant, 2007.
The Pinhas Sapir Center Grant, 2006–2007.
Whitebox Advisors Doctoral Fellowship, 2004–2005.
Cowlese Foundation Prize, Yale University, 2003.
The Georg Walter Leitner Grant for Political Economics, 2002.
John Perry Miller Fund Fellowship, 2002 (declined).
Yale Fellowship, Sept. 1999–2003.
Rector's Prize for the top student in economics (graduate level), Bar-Ilan University, Israel, 1008.
Dean's List of top 3 percent of students in economics (undergraduate level), Bar-Ilan University, Israel, 1994–1997.
Conference Organizer: Individual Decision-Making: A Behavioral Approach, Tel Aviv University, June 2009; The Meaning and Value of Labor, MIT, January 2005; Whitebox Advisors Graduate Students Conference in Behavioral Science, Yale University, May 2005.
Workshop Organizer: Behavioral/Experimental Economics Workshop, Tel Aviv University, 2008; Theory Workshop, Tel Aviv University, 2006–2008.
Director of Graduate Studies: Tel Aviv University, 2007.
Reviewer: American Economic Review, Games and Economic Behavior, National Science Foundation, Marketing Science, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Public Economic Theory, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.