Remembering Dr. Daniel Kahneman: A Pioneer of Behavioral Economics

The social and behavioral science community lost a giant with the passing of Dr. Daniel Kahneman on March 27 at the age of 90. Kahneman, known as the “grandfather of behavioral economics,” leaves behind a legacy that has fundamentally shaped our understanding of human decision-making, risk, and cognitive biases.

Throughout his career, Kahneman’s research was heavily supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), receiving three significant grants that propelled his work on cumulative decision-making. His projects, such as “Understanding Loss Aversion,” “Analysis of Retrospective Utility,” and “Decision Under Uncertainty,” have paved the way for new insights in the fields of economics, psychology, and beyond.

Kahneman’s most notable accolade, the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics, was awarded for integrating psychological research into economic science concerning human judgment and decision-making under uncertainty.