Herbert Gintis

Herbert Gintis (born 1940) is an American behavioral scientist, educator, and author. He is notable for his foundational views on altruism, cooperation, epistemic game theory, gene-culture coevolution, efficiency wages, strong reciprocity, and human capital theory. Gintis has also written extensively on behavioral, evolutionary, and epistemic game theory.

Gintis received his B.A. in Mathematics from University of Pennsylvania in 1961. The following year, he received an M.A. in Mathematics from Harvard University. In 1969, he received a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard after acceptance of his dissertation, Alienation and power: towards a radical welfare economics.

He works extensively with economist Samuel Bowles. Both Gintis and Bowles were asked by Martin Luther King Jr. to write papers for the 1968 Poor People's March. Gintis and others were also 1968 co-founders of Union for Radical Political Economists.

Gintis is currently Professor at Central European University, Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts and External Professor at Santa Fe Institute