Giuseppe UGAZIO
Associate Professor
Geneva Finance Research Institute
Chair in Behavioral Philanthropy, Geneva Finance Research Institute
Ph.D., University of Zürich
Ph.D., University of Zürich
Uni Pignon - 304
+41 22 379 88 04
Email
Giuseppe Ugazio is the Edmond the Rothschild Assistant Professor in Behavioral Philanthropy at the Geneva Finance Research Insitute. He holds two Doctorates in Philosophy and in Neuroeconomics from the University of Zurich.
He is an interdisciplinary behavioral scientist studying the neuro-psychological mechanisms that drive complex human social behaviors. Using interdisciplinary experimental methods he probes the affective, cognitive, and behavioral control mechanisms that support social decision-making. In particular, his research focuses on understanding how these decision mechanisms compete and interact to drive choices related to philanthropy. To understand philanthropy, he is also developing an AI approach to disclose motivations to engage in prosocial endeavors looking in particular at the role played by emotions and moral values
Selected publications
Journal article
Sooter, N., Gibson Brandon, R. N., & Ugazio, G. (2024). Honesty is predicted by moral values and economic incentives but is unaffected by acute stress. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 41, 100899. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2024.100899.
Zucchelli, M., & Ugazio, G. (2019). Cognitive-Emotional and Inhibitory Deficits as a Window to Moral Decision-Making Difficulties Related to Exposure to Violence. Frontiers in Psychology, 10 (1427). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01427.
Soutschek, A., Ugazio, G., Crockett, M., Kalenscher, T., Ruff, C. C., & Tobler, P. N. (2017). Binding Oneself to the Mast: Stimulating Frontopolar Cortex Enhances Precommitment. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12 (4), 635-642. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsw176.
Cohn, A., Marechal, M., Ugazio, G., & Ruff, C. C. (2017). Increasing honesty in humans with noninvasive brain stimulation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 (17), 4360-4364. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1614912114.
Ruff, C. C., Ugazio, G., & Fehr, E. (2013). Changing Social Norm Compliance with Noninvasive Brain Stimulation. Science, 342 (6157), 482-484. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1241399.
Ugazio, G., Lamm, C., & Singer, T. (2012). The Role of Emotions for Moral Judgments Depends on the Type of Emotion and Moral Scenario.. Emotion, 12 (3), 579-590. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024611.
Heinzelmann, N., Ugazio, G., & Tobler, P. N. (2012). Practical Implications of Empirically Studying Moral Decision-Making. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 6 (94). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2012.00094.
Academic meeting proceeding with presentation
Ugazio, G., Bernardic, U., Lideikyte-Huber, G., Peter, H., & Lebreton, M. (2021). When and how do tax incentives promote prosocial behavior and charitable giving? Conference. Taxation and Philanthropy.
Academic meeting presentation
Ugazio, G., & Gomez Teijeiro, L. (2020). Mapping the Swiss Philanthropic Landscape through big-data. Philanthropy Lunch.
Ugazio, G., & Gomez Teijeiro, L. (2020). Mapping Complementarity Between Sustainable Finance and Philanthropy. Science of Philanthropy Initiative Conference 2020.
Ugazio, G. (2019). Moral and Financial Values in the Brain. University of Zurich, Graduate School of Neuroeconomics Annual Symposium.
Ugazio, G. (2019). Neuro-Computatonal Foundations of Moral Preferences. European Research Network on Philanthropy.
Professional meeting presentation
Ugazio, G. (2020). Moral and Financial Values in the Brain. Elite Summit 2021.
Faculty research seminar
Ugazio, G. (2020). Moral and Financial Values in the Brain. Istituto di Economia Politica - USI.
Ugazio, G. (2019). Moral and Financial Values in the Brain. Geneva Finance Research Institute Seminar.
Invited speaker
Ugazio, G. (2021). The Financial Future We Want: Sustainable Finance and the Digital World., Geneva, Switzerland.
Ugazio, G. (2021). Blended Finance for Open Innovation and SDGs., Geneva, Switzerland.
Ugazio, G. (2019). The Moral Brain Hypothesis., Geneva, Switzerland.
Ugazio, G. (2018). entromedial Prefrontal Cortex damages impair financial decision-making., Boston, United States of America.
Ugazio, G. (2017). Increasing social self-control with Brain Stimulation., Boston, United States of America.
Ugazio, G. (2016). Increasing Honesty with Brain Stimulation., Boston, United States of America.
Practitioner-oriented article (non peer-reviewed)
Ugazio, G. (2019). Personalized Philanthropy. Expert Focus, 2019 3 (3), pp. 121-124.
Newspaper article (authored)
Ugazio, G., & Monks, J. (2020). Harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence for Philanthropy. UN Today.
Book chapter
Bernardic, U., Lebreton, M., Lideikyte-Huber, G., Peter, H., & Ugazio, G. (2021). Behavioural Philanthropy: Harnessing behavioural sciences to design more effective tax incentives for philanthropy. Handbook of Taxation and Philanthropy. Routledge.
Ugazio, G., & Ruff, C. C. (2017). Neural Control of Social Decisions: Causal Evidence from Brain Stimulation Studies. In Dreher, J.C., and Tremblay (Eds.), Decision Neuroscience: An Integrative Perspective (pp. 233-245). Elsevier.
Ugazio, G., Majdandzic, J., & Lamm, C. (2014). Are Empathy and Morality Linked?. Insights from Moral Psychology, Social and Decision Neuroscience, and Philosophy. In Heidi L. Maibom (Ed.), Empathy and Morality (pp. 155-171). Oxford University Press.
