Jon Elster - Curriculum vitae#
Civil Status
Born February 22 1940 in Oslo, Norway. Citizen of Norway. Resident of Norway. Married.
Education
- Mag.art.(philosophy) from the University of Oslo, 1966. Thesis: "Prise de conscience dans la Phénoménologie de l'Esprit de Hegel".
- Docteur ès lettres et sciences sociales from the University of Paris V, 1972. Thesis: "Production et reproduction: Essai sur Marx".
Academic career
- Research fellow, Norwegian Research Council, 1968-1971.
- Boursier du gouvernement français, 1968-1971.
- Pensionnaire étranger, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, 1968-1971.
- Research Fellow, University of Oslo, 1971-1973.
- Visiting associate professor of philosophy, University of California, Berkeley, 1973, 1977.
- Associate professor of sociology, University of Paris VIII, 1973-1977
- Associate professor of history and philosophy, University of Oslo 1975-1985
- Visiting professor of philosophy, Stanford University, 1977.
- Visiting director of studies, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, 1978,1980, 1981,1982, 1983, 1987, 1988.
- Visiting professor of political science, University of Chicago, 1979, 1981,1983
- Visiting fellow, All Souls College, Oxford, 1982
- Professor of political science and philosophy, University of Chicago, 1984-1995 (1989-1995: Edward L.Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor).
- Research director, Institute for Social Research, Oslo, 1984 to present.
- Visiting professor of philosophy, California Institute of Technology, 1984
- Adjunct Professor, Department of Economics, University of Oslo, 1990-92.
- Robert K. Merton Professor of Social Science, Columbia University, 1995 to present.
- Adjunct Professor, Institute for Peace Research, Oslo 2002-2007
Memberships
- Member, Norwegian Academy of Sciences, since 1981
- Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, since 1988
- Member, Academia Europaea since 1989
- John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship awarded for 1989.
- Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy since 1991
- Fellow, Russell Sage Foundation, Spring 1997.
Research activities
- Director of a research project on "Democracy and Social Planning", funded by the Norwegian Research Council for the Humanities, 1980-1982.
- Coordinator of a working group on rationality funded by the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme(Paris) and the Norwegian Research Council. The group met annually in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984 and 1986.
- Coordinator of a working group on Marxism, funded by the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 1979-1990.
- Coordinator (with George Loewenstein) of a working group on intertemporal choice, funded by the Russell Sage Foundation. The group met annually from 1986 to 1991.
- Director of a research project on the distributive consequences of unemployment, funded by the Norwegian Research Council, 1985-1987.
- Director of a research project on the allocation of children in divorce and child welfare cases, funded by the Norwegian Research Council, 1985-1988 and 1991-94.
- Director of a research project on strategic aspects of collective wage bargaining, funded by the Norwegian Research Council for Applied Social Science, 1987-91.
- Director of a research project on "Local justice: The allocation of scarce resources", funded by the Russell Sage Foundation, 1987-91.
- Initiator and coordinator of an international project on “Local justice”, with branches in Brazil, France, Germany, Norway and the United States, 1987 to present.
- Director (with Russell Hardin, Stephen Holmes, Bernard Manin and Adam Przeworski) of the Center for Ethics, Rationality and Society, University of Chicago, 1986-1994.
- Director (with Stephen Holmes, Wiktor Osiatynski and Cass Sunstein) of The Center for the Study of Constitutionalism in Eastern Europe, University of Chicago Law School, 1990 to present.
- Director (with Claus Offe and Ulrich Preuss) of a research project on “Constitutional politics and Economic transformation in post-communist societies”, funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung, 1992-1994.
- Member of the steering group for “Behavioral economics” 1993 to present, Russell Sage Foundation.
- Initiator and coordinator of a project on “Addiction”, funded by the Norwegian Research Council for Social Science and the Russell Sage Foundation, 1992-97.
- Director (with Stephen Holmes, Bernard Manin, Adam Przeworski and Cass Sunstein) of the Chicago Center for the Study of Democracy, 1994- 1995.
- Director (with Stephen Holmes) of a research project on “Retroactive justice in societies that have recently emerged from totalitarian rule”, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1995-2000.
- Director, Sawyer Seminar on transitional justice, Columbia University 1998- 2002, funded by the Mellon Foundation.
- Director (with Hans Fredrik Dahl, Stein Ugelvik Larsen, and Øystein Sørensen) of a project on post-World-War II war trials, purges and restitutions in Norway, funded by the Norwegian Research Council 1999-2002.
- Director of a working group on “Microfoundations of civil war” funded by the Norwegian Research Council, 2002-2007.
Prizes and awards
- Prize of the Norwegian Research Council for excellence in research, 1992.
- Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Valencia, 1995.
- Prix Jean Nicod, Paris 1997.
- Doctor Honoris Causa, Stockholm University, 1998.
- John von Neumann award, Budapest University, 2002.