dr. K. Fairley (Kim)

My PhD focuses on decision making under uncertainty. Specifically I study how people perceive risky and ambiguous situations when the uncertainty is stemming from the actions and behavior of another person instead of nature. This uncertainty can be labeled as social uncertainty or strategic uncertainty. Ultimately my research aims to show that behavior in different settings under uncertainty arise from specific sources of uncertainty and therefore can explain the heterogeneity of uncertainty preferences for one single person. Understanding these preferences matter in terms of understanding and explaining economic concepts in real life. For instance decisions on insurance, saving for a pension or trusting strangers and peers.