Dennis Snower

Snower was born in Vienna, Austria, where he went to the American International School. He received a BA and MA from New College, Oxford University, an MA and a PhD from Princeton University. He is a US citizen, married and has two children. He received German citizenship in 2018.

Caring economics, created by Snower in conjunction with Tania Singer and their respective research teams, laid the analytical and empirical foundations for a new theory of microeconomic decision making, based on underlying psychological motives. The analysis rests on the insights that all economic behavior is psychologically motivated, everyone has access to an array of discrete motivation systems, which affect their objectives, as well as their beliefs and perceptions, and which motive is active at any particular point in time depends on the person's physical and social context. This research has generated wide-ranging insights, such as for psychology, mental training, identity economics, environmental psychology, and welfare policy.

Together with George Akerlof and Steven Bosworth, Snower made seminal contributions to identity and narrative economics. This work explores the formation of competitive versus cooperative identities and the channels whereby narratives affect economic decisions. It has influenced thinking in political economy, socio-economics, psychology, behavioral finance and environmental economics.