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Public events (lifelong learning)
Dean’s Lecture Series Announcement
Join us for the next session of the Dean’s Lecture Series featuring Dr. Ahmet Altınok.
Dr. Ahmet Altınok is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Nazarbayev University. He holds a BA and MA in Economics from Boğaziçi University and a PhD in Economics from Arizona State University. His research lies at the intersection of Matching Theory, Contract Theory, Political Economy, and Behavioral Economics, focusing on how incentive structures, individual preferences, and institutional settings shape economic behavior and policy outcomes.
Lecture Topic: Desert Preferences and Moral Hazard in Teams
Dr. Altınok’s research develops a theoretical model of desert preferences—the idea that people care about getting what they feel they deserve based on their effort and success. The model shows how these preferences influence incentive design in teams: instead of rewarding individual performance, the optimal contracts focus on joint results. It also finds that expected wages shift depending on whether agents feel guilt from being overpaid or satisfaction from being underpaid.
