Nicola Lacetera

REAL WORLD EXPERTISE & COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

Nico Lacetera joined the University of Toronto in 2010 after four years spent as Assistant Professor of Economics at the Weatherhead School of Management of Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio). While at Case Western, he taught courses in Entrepreneurship and Business Strategy at both the graduate and undergraduate level. He holds a Ph.D. in Strategy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA in Economics from Bocconi University in Milano, Italy.

SCHOLARSHIP & RESEARCH

Nico`s research concerns a number of areas and methods. First, he has collaborated with several non-profit organizations to conduct field experiments to study the motivations for altruistic behaviour, and in particular blood and organ donations, thus informing these organizations on how to enhance contributions from donors. A second line of research concerns how ethical beliefs affect the acceptance of certain “controversial” transactions (such as paying for blood or organs, patenting living organisms, or prostitution). Third, he uses large datasets from used car auctions to assess the determinants of value and quality of automobile.. Finally, Nico studies how different individual motivations and institutional arrangements affect the production and commercialization of knowledge.