First Day - Thursday, December 4, 2008

8.20 - 9.00

Opening Session and Introductions
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Erwann Michel-Kerjan and Paul Slovic, Organizers
Welcome by Ron Daniels, Provost, University of Pennsylvania

9.00-10.30

Panel I – The Debate About Economic Models and Rationality: Are We Still Asking the Right Questions?
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Colin Camerer (Caltech) – Measuring Decision Process Directly
Avinash Dixit (Princeton) – Social Formation of Pro-Social Preferences
David Krantz (Columbia) – The Irrational Economist and the Quest for Rationality
Paul Schoemaker (Wharton; moderator) – Implications of Decision Psychology for Classical Notions of Rationality
Paul Slovic (University of Oregon) – Thinking and Deciding Rationally About Catastrophic Losses

11.00-12.30

Panel II – Decision Making under Risk, Ambiguity and Over Time: New Results
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Robin Hogarth (Pompeu Fabra) – On Coconuts in Foggy Mine-Fields: An approach to studying future-choice decisions
Paul Kleindorfer (INSEAD/Wharton, moderator) – Legitimation in Decision Making
Robert Meyer (Miami/Wharton) – Why We Fail to Learn from Disasters
Ayse Onculer (ESSEC) – Ambiguity over Time: How Do We Manage an Uncertain Future?

12.30-2.00

Lunch, Games and Table Discussions
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Table leaders:
Elizabeth Bailey, Wharton School; Eric Bradlow, Wharton School; Cary Coglianese, University of Pennsylvania Law School; Morris Cohen, Wharton School; Robin Dillon-Merrill, Georgetown University; Scott Harrington, Wharton School; Moti Levi, Life Group, LLC; Alex Muermann, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration; Olivier Oullier, Aix-Marseille Université; Harvey Rubin, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Maurice Schweitzer, Wharton School; Richard Thomas, AIG; Mike Useem, Wharton School; Sid Winter, Wharton School; Gavin Wright, Stanford University

2.00-3.30

Panel III – Are We (Academics) Making a Difference in the World? The Policy Impact
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Christian Gollier (Toulouse) – Managing Long-Term Risks
Geoffrey Heal (Columbia; moderator) – Environmental Politics
Ralph Keeney (Duke) – Using Decision Sciences Concepts to Think Clearly about Policy Decisions
Robert O'Connor (NSF) – Past and The Future of Decision Making and Disaster Research: A View from the National Science Foundation (co-authored with Dennis Wenger, NSF)

3.45-5.15

Panel IV – Managing and Financing Extreme Events I: Roles and Responsibilities of the Public and Private Sectors 
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Neil Doherty (Wharton; moderator) – Climate Change: Insuring Risk and Changes in Risk
Dwight Jaffee (UC Berkeley) – Catastrophe Insurance and Regulatory Reform After the Subprime Mortgage Crisis
Carolyn Kousky (Resources for the Future) – Virgin vs. Experienced Risks (co-authored with John Pratt and Richard Zeckhauser, Harvard)
Joanne Linnerooth-Bayer (IIASA) – International Social Protection for Climate-Related Disasters

Second Day - Friday, December 5, 2008

9.00-10.30

Panel V – Managing and Financing Extreme Events II: Dealing with a New Era
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Kenneth Froot (Harvard) – Towards Financial Stability:  Lessons from Catastrophe Reinsurance
Erwann Michel-Kerjan (Wharton) – Toward a New Risk Architecture: Welcome to Risk Management 2.0
Mark Pauly (Wharton; moderator) – Half Full or Half Empty? Economic and Behavioral Explanations for Insurance Demand
Thomas Schelling (Maryland ) – Is Belief in Astrology Rational?
Richard Zeckhauser (Harvard) – Overreaction to Fearsome Risks (co-authored with Cass Sunstein, Harvard)

11.00-12.30

Final session – Where Do We Go from Here? Future Directions in Behavioral Economics and Risk Management
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Daniel Kahneman (Princeton) pre-recorded video

The closing session will build on discussions that took place during the conference
Baruch Fischhoff (Carnegie Mellon)
Howard Kunreuther (Wharton; moderator)
Erwann Michel-Kerjan (Wharton)
Paul Slovic (University of Oregon)

Photo Gallery

"Darwin’s Little Hiccups; The Platypus, the Coelacanth and the Irrational Economist" by Neil Doherty