douglas bernheim studied from 1975 to 1979 at harvard university, where he received his bachelor of arts (ab), summa cum laude. in 1982, he received his phd in economics from the massachusetts institute of technology. subsequently, he was an assistant professor (1982–1987) and associate professor (1987–1988) at stanford university. bernheim moved to northwestern university to serve as the harold j. hines jr. distinguished professor of risk management (1988–1990) and later moved to princeton university (1990–1994) to serve as the john l. weinberg professor of economics and business policy. since 1994 he has worked again at stanford university: from 1994 to 2005 as the lewis and virginia eaton professor and since 2005 as the edward ames edmonds professor of economics. since 1986, he has also conducted research for the national bureau of economic research.