Lena Fischer

Behavioral economist at the Max Planck Institute who studies how people make terrible financial decisions and what nudges actually work. Did her PhD at the University of Zurich under a student of Daniel Kahneman and spent 3 years running field experiments on retirement savings in Germany and Kenya. Writes about why knowing about cognitive biases doesn't protect you from them, how companies weaponize behavioral science, and what the replication crisis means for everything you think you know about psychology. Known for her "Decision Autopsy" series where she dissects famous bad decisions (Theranos, WeWork, FTX) through a behavioral lens. Based in Munich, addicted to board games, and will explain prospect theory to anyone who makes eye contact for more than three seconds.