Karla Hoff
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Visiting Professor, M.P.A. in Development Practice, School of International and Public Affairs
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USA
BIOGRAPHY:
Karla Hoff is a Visiting Professor of Economics and International Affairs in the spring semester and a lead economist in the World Bank. She co-directed the Bank’s World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior, an early synthesis of applications of behavioral economics to development economics. Behavioral economics in the 20th century revealed universal cognitive biases with large economic consequences, and in the 21st century revealed that the social patterns to which individuals are exposed shape cognition and preferences. Karla is interested in how behavioral interventions can shift societies to better development paths. She has implemented lab-in-the field experiments in India to study stereotype threat, trust, third-party punishment, and the formation of conventions. She is currently evaluating a program of Theater of the Oppressed in West Bengal. She is an Associate Editor of The World Bank Economic Review and co-edited two books—The Economics of Rural Organization and Poverty Traps. She was a National Merit Scholar, majored in French at Wellesley College, served in the Peace Corps in the Ivory Coast, and earned a PhD in economics at Princeton University.
