David M. Kreps

The Adams Distinguished Professor of Management, Emeritus
Academic Area:
David M. Kreps

Bio

David Kreps joined the faculty of the Graduate School of Business in 1975, after completing a PhD in Operations Research in the Stanford School of Engineering. He has been a full professor since 1980, and today is the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management, Emeritus. From 2000 to 2009, he served as Senior Associate Dean.

Professor Kreps has been recognized for his research as a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and with an honorary doctorate from Universite Paris IX. In 1989, he was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal by the American Economic Association. In 2007, he received the CME Group/MSRI Prize in Innovative Quantitative Applications. In 2010 he was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association. In 2018 he was awarded the Carty Prize for the Advancement of Science by the National Academy of Sciences and was named the Erwin Plein Nemmers Prizewinner by Northwestern University. His 1989 Clarendon Lectures, Game Theory and Economic Modelling, have been translated into at least eight languages.

Professor Kreps has taught MBA and doctoral level courses in decision theory, stochastic processes, microeconomics, statistics, operations, competitive strategy, game theory, and human resource management. He is the author or coauthor of six textbooks. In 1991, he was awarded the MBA Distinguished Teaching Award and in 2019 he won the MSx Teaching Excellence Award. In 2010 he was awarded the Robert T. Davis Faculty Award for his overall service to Stanford GSB.

Away from work, Professor Kreps enjoys cooking and coaching youth sports. His three children think he has a lame sense of humor, of which this sentence is probably a good example.

Research Interests

  • Dynamic choice
  • Human resource management
  • Behavioral economics
  • Economic equilibrium in dynamic-choice contexts

Academic Degrees

  • MA and PhD, Stanford University, 1975
  • AB, Dartmouth College, 1972

Academic Appointments

  • Stanford GSB: Professor Emeritus, 2018-present; Professor, 1980-2018; Senior Associate Dean, 2000-09; Associate Professor, 1978-80; Assistant Professor, 1975-78
  • Tel-Aviv University, Berglas School of Economics, Sackler Fellow, 1991-2006
  • Visitor: Bocconi University 1992; St. Catherine's College Oxford 1990; CORE 1990; Tel-Aviv University 1989-90; Universite Paris IX 1986; Hebrew University 1985; Harvard University 1983; Cowles Foundation 1982; Churchill College Cambridge 1978-79

Awards and Honors

  • MSx Teaching Excellence Award, 2019
  • The Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics, Northwestern University, 2018
  • John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science, National Academy of Sciences, 2018
  • Robert T. Davis Faculty Award, 2010
  • Distinguished Fellow, American Economic Association, 2010
  • MSRI Prize in Innovative Quantitative Applications, CME Group, 2007
  • Doctorate Honoris Causa, Université Paris IX, 2001
  • John Bates Clark Medal, American Economic Association, 1989
  • Distinguished Teaching Award, MBA, 1991
  • Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, 1989-90
  • Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1983-85

Service to the Profession

Member

    • U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 1997-present

    Fellow

      • American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1993-present
      • Econometric Society, 1983-present

      Co-Editor

        • Econometrica, 1984-88

        Program Co-Chair

          • Seventh World Congress of the Econometric Society, 1995

          Research Statement

          Kreps is an economic theorist of international reputation whose work concerns dynamic choice behavior and economic contexts in which dynamic choices are key. He has contributed to the literatures of axiomatic choice theory, financial markets, dynamic games, bounded rationality, and human resource management.

          Journal Articles

          David M. Kreps, Walter Schachermayer
          Theoretical Economics
          January 2021 Vol. 16 Issue 1 Pages 25–47
          David M. Kreps, Walter Schachermayer
          Mathematical Finance
          June 2020
          David M. Kreps, Alejandro Francetich
          Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control
          February 2020 Vol. 111 Issue 103813
          Alejandro Francetich, David M. Kreps
          Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control
          February 2020 Vol. 111
          Alejandro Francetich, David M. Kreps
          Economic Letters
          December 2014 Vol. 125 Issue 3 Pages 444-446
          Renee Bowen, David M. Kreps, Andrzej Skrzypacz
          Quarterly Journal of Economics
          January 2013 Vol. 128 Issue 3 Pages 1273-1320
          David M. Kreps, James N. Baron
          California Management Review
          1999 Vol. 41 Issue 3 Pages 29-53
          David M. Kreps
          Daedalus
          1997 Vol. 126 Issue 1 Pages 59-85
          David M. Kreps
          American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings
          1997 Vol. 87 Issue 2 Pages 359-64
          David M. Kreps
          Industrial and Corporate Change
          1996 Vol. 5 Issue 2 Pages 561-96
          David M. Kreps, Drew Fudenberg
          Games and Economic Behavior
          1995 Vol. 8 Pages 20-55
          David M. Kreps, Drew Fudenberg
          Games and Economic Behavior
          1993 Vol. 5 Pages 320-67
          David M. Kreps, Ayman Hindy, Chi-fu Huang
          Journal of Mathematical Economics
          1992 Vol. 21 Pages 401-40
          David M. Kreps, Drew Fudenberg, Eric Maskin
          Review of Economic Studies
          1990 Vol. 57 Pages 555-73
          David M. Kreps
          Journal of Economic Perspectives
          1988 Vol. 2 Pages 111-35
          David M. Kreps, Drew Fudenberg, David Levine
          Journal of Economic Theory
          1988 Vol. 44 Pages 354-80
          David M. Kreps, Garey Ranet
          Econometrica
          1987 Vol. 55 Pages 1331-49
          David M. Kreps, Drew Fudenberg
          Review of Economic Studies
          1987 Vol. 54 Pages 541-568
          David M. Kreps, In-koo Cho
          Quarterly Journal of Economics
          1987 Vol. 102 Pages 179-221
          David M. Kreps
          La Revista Espanola de Economia
          1987 Vol. 4 Pages 111-145
          David M. Kreps, Oliver D. Hart
          Journal of Political Economy
          1986 Vol. 94 Pages 927-52
          David M. Kreps, Jose Scheinkman
          Bell Journal of Economics
          1983 Vol. 14 Pages 326-337
          David M. Kreps, Robert Wilson
          Econometrica
          July 1982 Vol. 50 Issue 4 Pages 863-894
          David M. Kreps, Joel S. Demski
          Journal of Accounting Research
          1982 Vol. 20 Pages 117-48
          David M. Kreps, Paul R. Milgrom, John Roberts, Robert Wilson
          Journal of Economic Theory
          1982 Vol. 27 Pages 245-252
          David M. Kreps, Robert Wilson
          Journal of Economic Theory
          1982 Vol. 27 Pages 253-279
          David M. Kreps
          Journal of Mathematical Economics
          1981 Vol. 8 Pages 381-408
          David M. Kreps
          Econometrica
          May 1979 Vol. 47 Issue 3 Pages 565-577
          David M. Kreps, Evan L. Porteus
          Econometrica
          1979 Vol. 47 Pages 91-100
          J. Michael Harrison, David M. Kreps
          Journal of Economic Theory
          1979 Vol. 20 Issue 3 Pages 381–408
          David M. Kreps, Evan L. Porteus
          Journal of Economic Theory
          1979 Vol. 20 Pages 81-109
          David M. Kreps
          SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization
          1978 Vol. 16 Pages 420--28
          David M. Kreps, J. Michael Harrison
          Quarterly Journal of Economics
          1978 Vol. 92 Pages 323-336
          David M. Kreps, Evan L. Porteus
          Econometrica
          1978 Vol. 46 Issue 1 Pages 185-200
          David M. Kreps
          Journal of Economic Theory
          1977 Vol. 14 Pages 32-43
          David M. Kreps
          Mathematics of Operations Research
          1977 Vol. 2 Pages 45-53
          David M. Kreps
          Mathematics of Operations Research
          1977 Vol. 2 Pages 266-74
          David M. Kreps, Evan L. Porteus
          SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics
          1977 Vol. 32 Pages 420--28

          Other Publications

          David M. Kreps
          Evolving Approaches to the Economics of Public Policy
          2016 Pages 93-143
          David M. Kreps, Drew Fudenberg
          CORE Lecture Series
          1990

          Books

          David M. Kreps
          Columbia University Press
          November 2023
          David M. Kreps
          Cambridge University Press
          Cambridge
          September 2019
          David M. Kreps
          W. W. Norton & Company
          2018
          David M. Kreps
          Princeton University Press
          Princeton
          2012
          David M. Kreps
          Norton
          2004
          James N. Baron, David M. Kreps
          Wiley
          April 1999
          David M. Kreps
          Oxford University Press
          December 6, 1990
          David M. Kreps
          Princeton University Press
          February 20, 1990
          David M. Kreps
          Westview Press
          May 12, 1988

          Book Chapters

          David M. Kreps, James N. Baron
          The Handbook of Organizational Economics
          2013 Pages 315-41
          David M. Kreps
          Game Theory: 5 Questions
          2007 Pages 121-35
          David M. Kreps
          Research Universities and the Future of the Academic Disciplines
          2003 Pages 49-72
          David M. Kreps
          Frontiers of Research in Economic Theory: The Nancy L. Schwartz Memorial Lectures
          1998 Pages 242074
          David M. Kreps
          New Palgrave Dictionary of Law and Economics
          1998
          David M. Kreps, Joel Sobel
          The Handbook of Game Theory, Volume II
          1994 Pages 849-67
          David M. Kreps
          Economic Analysis of Markets and Games
          1992
          David M. Kreps
          Perspectives on Positive Political Economy
          1990 Pages 90-142
          David M. Kreps
          The Economics of Information, Missing Markets, and Games
          1989
          David M. Kreps
          The New Palgrave
          1987
          David M. Kreps, Margaret Bray
          Kenneth Arrow and the Ascent of Economic Theory
          1987
          David M. Kreps, A. Michael Spence
          Issues in Contemporary Microeconomics and Welfare
          1985 Pages 340-78
          David M. Kreps, A. Michael Spence
          Technological Innovation and Business Strategy
          1896

          Non-Degree Courses

          Programs and Non-Degree Courses

          In the Media

          Insights by Stanford Business

          March 28, 2018
          Three award-winning economists talk about where the field has been and where it’s heading.
          March 27, 2015
          An economist explains why “rational choice” is sometimes irrational.
          November 01, 2000
          In the last 25 years, many if not most significant innovations in economics have been driven by this methodological innovation.

          School News

          October 12, 2020
          “Bob brought economic theory to the real world, both as a mechanism for understanding ‘how things work’ and then in the design of better institutions.”
          June 20, 2019
          Stanford GSB students recognized Professors Timothy McQuade, Jesper Sørensen, and David Kreps for their outstanding teaching.
          February 19, 2019
          The newly established symposia are a testament to the lasting impact of David M. Kreps’ contributions to Stanford GSB.
          April 16, 2018
          Northwestern University announces Kreps as the winner of the 2018 Erwin Plein Prize in Economics based on his work in game theory, decision theory, and finance.
          January 17, 2018
          David Kreps, Paul Milgrom, and Robert Wilson have been honored for their pioneering work using game theory to help solve real-world problems.
          February 27, 2017
          A recent two-day symposium celebrated the depth and breadth of impact by faculty member David Kreps in choice theory, finance, game theory, economics.
          May 15, 2011
          Seenu Srinivasan, Larry Wein, and David Kreps are appointed to new chairs.
          June 14, 2008
          At commencement, Dean Joss expressed appreciation for the “record-smashing” MBA class gift of more than $1.2 million, pledged by 96% of the class.

          Videos and Podcasts

          • David M. Kreps delivered The 13th Annual Kenneth J. Arrow Lecture, entitled “Not Every Couple Should Have a Prenup: How the Context and History of Exchange Affects Personal Preferences, and Why This Matters Both to Economic Theory and to Practical Human Resource Management.”

            The Kenneth Arrow Lecture at Columbia University, December 13, 2021
            01:32:45

            The Kenneth Arrow Lecture at Columbia University, December 13, 2021

          • David M. Kreps delivered The Erwin Plein Nemmers Lecture, entitled “Some Dimensions of Behavior with which Economics Should Contend.”