Books
Over his career, Sheheryar Banuri has written and collaborated on some longer form texts in the domain of decision making, and behavioral development economics (notable for mainstreaming behavioral science at the World Bank). His second solo-authored book is due to be released in 2023, titled "The Decisive Mind," published by Hodder and Stoughton.
Good decisions are hard to make - agreed? Whether it's deciding what kind of take-away to order, what brand of shampoo to buy, or what to do in a crisis, we've all been in situations where we panic or overthink.
And now, more than ever, we are in unfamiliar territory. Our routines and norms have been completely disrupted, replaced by stress and anxiety and making a good decision is harder than ever.
But this book is here to help. Behavioural Economist Dr Sheheryar Banuri will be your guide. By asking: What can we learn from past behaviour in similar crises? How does the psychology of decision-making change under stress? And how can we avoid making the wrong decisions? Good Decisions for Strange Situations is that fool-proof guide to help you give yourself the best possible chance of choosing wisely.
Banuri, S. Good decisions for strange situations. 2020. Hoddor and Stoughton Press.
Development economics and policy are due for a redesign. In the past few decades, research from across the natural and social sciences has provided stunning insight into the way people think and make decisions. Whereas the first generation of development policy was based on the assumption that humans make decisions deliberatively and independently, and on the basis of consistent and self-interested preferences, recent research shows that decision making rarely proceeds this way. People think automatically: when deciding, they usually draw on what comes to mind effortlessly. People also think socially: social norms guide much of behavior, and many people prefer to cooperate as long as others are doing their share. And people think with mental models: what they perceive and how they interpret it depend on concepts and worldviews drawn from their societies and from shared histories.
The World Development Report 2015 offers a concrete look at how these insights apply to development policy. It shows how a richer view of human behavior can help achieve development goals in many areas, including early childhood development, household finance, productivity, health, and climate change. It also shows how a more subtle view of human behavior provides new tools for interventions. Making even minor adjustments to a decisionmaking context, designing interventions based on an understanding of social preferences, and exposing individuals to new experiences and ways of thinking may enable people to improve their lives.
World Bank. 2015. World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Coming soon!
Peer-reviewed publications
Sheheryar Banuri has been published in a number of leading journals and periodicals and has gained a name as a leading voice in his field. He has been privileged to collaborate with some highly influential senior academics. Please click on the icon to access the papers.
2022
Banuri, Sheheryar, Catherine Eckel, and Rick Wilson. 2022. “Does Cronyism Pay? Costly Ingroup Favoritism in the Lab.” Forthcoming at Economic Inquiry.
Care provision: An experimental investigation
2019
Banuri, Sheheryar, Angela de Oliveira, and Catherine Eckel. 2019. “Care provision: An experimental investigation.” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 157, p. 615-630.
2019
Banuri, Sheheryar, Stefan Dercon, and Varun Gauri. 2019. “Biased policy professionals.” World Bank Economic Review, 33, 2, p. 310-327.
2019
Batrancea, Larissa, Anca Nichita, Jerome Olsen…, Sheheryar Banuri, … et al. 2019. “Trust and power as determinants of tax compliance across 44 nations.” Journal of Economic Psychology 74: 102191.
2018
Banuri, Sheheryar, Damien de Walque, Philip Keefer, Haidara O. Diadie, Paul J. Robyn, and Maurice Ye. 2018. “The use of video vignettes to measure health worker knowledge. Evidence from Burkina Faso.” Social Science & Medicine, vol 213, pp. 173-180.
2016
Banuri, Sheheryar, and Philip Keefer. 2016. “Pro-social motivation, effort, and the call to public service.” European Economic Review, vol 83, pp. 139-164.
2015
Hausman, Kjell, Sheheryar Banuri, Dipak Gupta, and Klaus Abbink. 2015. “Al Qaeda in a bar: Composition and evolution of terrorist organizations.” Public Choice, vol 164(1-2), 57-73.
2015
Banuri, Sheheryar, and Catherine Eckel. 2015. “Cracking down on bribery.” Social Choice and Welfare, vol 45(3), pp.579-600.
2014
Lucas, Pablo, Angela de Oliveira, and Sheheryar Banuri. 2014. “The effects of group composition and social preference heterogeneity in a public goods game: An agent-based simulation.” Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol 17(3)5.
Peer-reviewed book chapters
Below, please find some of Sheheryar's favorite and more cutting edge pieces.
2021
Banuri, Sheheryar. 2021. “A Behavioural Economics Perspective on Compliance, ” in A. Riley, A. Stephan, A. Tubbs (eds.) Perspectives on Antitrust Compliance, Concurrences.
2016
Banuri, Sheheryar, and Philip Keefer. 2016. “Mellowing with tenure? Socialization increases prosocial behavior in public organizations,” in S.J. Goerg and J. Hamman (eds.) Experiments in Organizational Economics, Research in Experimental Economics volume 19, Emerald Group Publishing.
2012
Banuri, Sheheryar, and Catherine Eckel. 2012. “Experiments in culture and corruption: A review,” in Danila Serra and Leonard Wantchekon (eds.) New Advances in Experimental Research on Corruption, Research in Experimental Economics volume 15, Emerald Group Publishing.