| Born | August 1971 (age 40) |
|---|---|
| Nationality | France |
| Institution | New York University |
| Field | Behavioral economics Finance Macroeconomics |
| Alma mater | Harvard University Ecole Normale Supérieure |
| Influences | Andrei Shleifer Sherwin Rosen David Laibson |
| Information at IDEAS/RePEc | |
Xavier Gabaix (born August 1971) is a French economist, currently a Professor of Finance at the New York University Stern School of Business. He has been listed among the top 8 young economists in the world by The Economist.[1]
He was awarded the American Finance Association Fischer Black Prize, 2011. The award is given to a young researcher whose body of work "best exemplifies the Fischer Black hallmark of developing original research that is relevant to finance."[2]
Gabaix has many notable and highly original research contributions on a number of subjects in financial economics, including the level of compensation of corporate executives, and behaviorally influenced decision making and its influence on asset market behavior. In some of his work, he has cleverly exploited axiom-based models of the shapes of the tails of probability distributions. A hallmark of Professor Gabaix's research style is his propensity to take unexpected directions.[3]
He was the winner of the 2010 Bernacer Prize to the best European economist under 40 working in macro-finance for his original research contributions in financial and behavioural economics, including the consequences of seemingly irrational behaviour on asset markets, and his analysis of the level of compensation of corporate executives.[4]
In 2011, he was awarded the Prix du meilleur jeune économiste de France, a prize awarded yearly to a French economist under forty years of age «who has combined recognized expertise with active participation in public debate».
Gabaix mostly researches asset pricing, behavioral economics, and macroeconomics. He holds an M.A. in Mathematics from the Ecole Normale Supérieure, as well as a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. He previously held a position as Associate Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology but was denied tenure.