What really motivates people to be honest in business?

Why do some companies succeed and others fail? Why do some engage in deception and even massive fraud and others stay honest? Do we need regulations to deal with these questions or are shareholders’ market discipline and pressure enough? These are just some of the questions Alexander F. Wagner, Ph.D., is interested in as he tries to discern, via his research, how employees in organizations make their decisions. He’s an associate professor of finance at the Swiss Finance Institute in the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Wagner has diverse background in economics research

Alexander Wagner is a Swiss Finance Institute professor of finance at the University of Zurich. He obtained his doctorate in political economy from Harvard University. Prior to that, he completed studies in economics and law from the University of Linz, Austria, in his hometown.

In addition to being a researcher and teacher with international reach, Wagner is an independent counsel for PricewaterhouseCoopers and served as chairman of the Swipra Foundation.

His research focuses on corporate governance and behavioral finance. He’s recently investigated how investors perceive the value of straight and vague talk of managers and the stock market implications of the Donald Trump election.