John Wooders

Professor of Economics; Co-director of Center for Behavioral Institutional Design (C-BID); Director of Social Science Experimental Lab (SSEL) Affiliation: NYU Abu Dhabi
Education: BS University of Toronto; PhD Cornell University

Research Websites: Social Science Experimental Laboratory (SSEL) Center for Behavioral Institutional Design

Research Areas: Microeconomic Theory, Experimental Economics


John Wooders joined NYU Abu Dhabi in 2016 and has held appointments as a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Technology Sydney and Professor and Freshwater Group Fellow at the University of Arizona. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Public Economic Theory, Economics Letters, the International Game Theory Review, the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, and the Journal of Dynamics and Games. He is one of the founding researchers of the Center for Behavioral Institutional Design

Wooders has published in the top international journals, including Econometrica, the American Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Theory, and as well as numerous papers in Games and Economic Behavior and other leading journals. A distinctive feature of his work is that it combines novel theory with the innovative use of data from the field and the laboratory to understand and predict real-world behavior. His celebrated paper “Minimax Play at Wimbledon” (American Economic Review), for example, pioneered the use of data from the field – in this case, professional tennis – to test game theory. Wooders’ research has been supported by significant grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Australian Research Council, and the Fundación BBVA (Spain).

Courses Taught