Risk and Choice: A Research Saga

As in any research field, risk theory has its important questions, results, and paradoxes, as well as its seminal papers and key authors. Louis Eeckhoudt has been a key author in the field of risk theory. To celebrate his many contributions and continue the development of theories of decision making under risk, the Toulouse School of Economics hosted “Risk and choice: A conference in honor of Louis Eeckhoudt” July 12- 13, 2012. This paper presents some of Eeckhoudt’s main contributions to the literature, and provides some illustrations of the remarkable research saga in risk theory over the last 50 years since Pratt’s (1964) characterization of risk aversion under expected utility.