Tigran
Melkonyan

Professor of Economics
John S. Bickley Endowed Faculty Fellow
Department of Economics, Finance & Legal Studies
The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

tamelkonyan@ua.edu
(205) 348-9791
251 Alston Hall, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487

About

I am a Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics, Finance & Legal Studies at the University of Alabama. Prior to joining the University of Alabama, I held faculty appointments at the University of Maryland (College Park), the University of Nevada (Reno), the University of Exeter, and the University of Warwick. I have also been a Visiting Scholar at CY Cergy Paris and the International Monetary Fund, and have consulted for the United Nations Development Programme and several other international organizations.

My research examines how individuals and organizations make decisions under risk and uncertainty. My work spans decision theory, behavioral economics, applied game theory, and environmental and resource economics. More recently, my research has explored the role of unforeseen contingencies in economic decision-making, random and incomplete preferences, multi-layer ambiguity, ambiguity in strategic environments, information exchange in bilateral strategic interactions, and organizational responses to unexpected shocks. My interdisciplinary work bridges economics, cognitive science, and management, contributing to a deeper understanding of various behavioral phenomena.

My research has been published in leading journals across economics, management, and psychology, including the Journal of the European Economic Association, Management Science, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Academy of Management Review, Economic Theory, Psychological Review, the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Risk Analysis, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and the International Journal of Industrial Organization.

Research interests

Decision-making under risk and uncertainty
Decision theory and axiomatic foundations
Ambiguity and multi-layer ambiguity
Unforeseen contingencies and unawareness
Incomplete and random preferences
Behavioral economics
Applied game theory and contests
Virtual bargaining and social interaction
Contract design and regulation
Environmental and resource economics

Selected work

2026 Revising Beliefs in Light of Unforeseen Events Journal of the European Economic Association, 24(2), 661–700. With C. K. Becker, E. Proto, A. Sofianos and S. T. Trautmann.
2023 The Social Contract in Miniature: How Virtual Bargaining Supports Team Production Academy of Management Review, 48(3), 432–462. With H. Zeitoun and N. Chater.
2022 The Paradox of Social Interaction: Shared Intentionality, We-reasoning and Virtual Bargaining Psychological Review, 129(3), 415–437. With N. Chater and H. Zeitoun.
2022 Incomplete Preferences, Willingness to Pay, Willingness to Accept, and Elicitation Economic Theory, 74, 727–761. With R. Chambers and J. Quiggin.
2018 Collusion in Bertrand versus Cournot Competition: A Virtual Bargaining Approach Management Science, 64(12), 5599–5609. With H. Zeitoun and N. Chater.
2016 Intrinsic Variability in Group and Individual Decision-Making Management Science, 62(9), 2651–2667. With Z. Safra.
2014 Unwritten Rules: Virtual Bargaining as a Foundation for Social Interaction, Culture and Society Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18(10), 512–519. With J. Misyak, H. Zeitoun and N. Chater.
2013 Food Scares in an Uncertain World Journal of the European Economic Association, 11(6), 1432–1456. With R. Chambers.

All 48 journal articles →

TigranMelkonyan

Tigran
Melkonyan