May  2019

CURRICULUM VITAE AND LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

 

• Personal Details

 

Name: Joseph Yassour

Date and place of birth: January 6, 1944, Israel

Regular military service: 1961-1964

Ruppin Academic Center, 40250, Israel, +972-9-8983025

Home: Kfar Vitkin, 40200, Israel, +972-9-8666036

 

• Education

 

B.Sc.   1965-1967, Hebrew University, Faculty of Agriculture

 

High School Teaching Certificate - Hebrew University, 1969.

 

MBA   1971-1972, Tel Aviv University,

            Name of advisor - Yaakov Goldschmidt

Title of the thesis - "An Experiment to Estimate the Social Results in the Kibbutz through Demographic Index."

 

DBA   1975-1979, Harvard University - School of Business Administration

Name of advisors - Gordon Rausser (Chair), Howard Raiffa, Elon Kohlberg

Title of the thesis - "Decision Support Systems: The Case of Price Policy for Rice in the Philippines."

 

Group Dynamics Facilitator Certificate - Department of Psychology and School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University, 1991.

 

• Employment History

 

            Ruppin Academic Center:

                           2007 - today Associate Professor

                           1979 - 2007  Senior Lecturer

                           1987 - 1991  Academic Director

                           1980 - 1984  Chairman, Department of Economics and Management

 

           2002 - 2009 Academic Director of the Arava International Center for Agricultural Training (AICAT)

           2005 - 2006 Polycad, Shefayim - Member of the Board of Directors

           1991 - 1995 Kibbutz Nir Eliyahu - Chairman of the Board of Directors

           1987 - 1993 National Bank for Agricultural Development - Member of the Board of Directors

           1985 - 1986 and 1992, 1995 San Diego State University - Visiting Professor, Department of Information and Decision Systems

           1979,   and 1980 University of California at Berkeley, Post Doctorate Scholar, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics

           1973 - 1974 Kibbutz Manara, Israel - Secretary-General

           1968 - 1970 Upper Galilee Regional High School - Teacher of Agriculture, Biology, Organic Chemistry, Mathematics 

 

 

• Membership in professional/scientific societies

 

1990 - today   Member of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making (SJDM)

1990 - today   Member of the European Association for Decision Making (EADM)

2008 - today   Member of the International Positive Psychology Association

 

• Educational activities

 

Courses taught:

 

Introduction to Decision Theory (BA and MBA)

Quantitative Methods in Management (A-Deterministic and B-Stochastic)

Seminar in Decision Theory (BA and MBA)

Introduction to Simulation Models

Rationality and Affect in Decision Making

Workshop - Dynamics of Risk Taking

Computer Simulated Business Game (BA and MBA)

Operations Research (MBA)

 

As a visiting professor, I taught graduate Courses at U. C. Berkeley, San Diego State University, Baruch College (Israel), Netanya College and The Hebrew University.

 

• Public Professional Activities

 

1980 - 2007 Israeli Prison Authority - Rehabilitation Volunteer

1986 - 1990 Moshav Kfar Vitkin - Member of the Council

1973 - 1974 Kibbutz Manara - Secretary-General and Member of the Council                                 

 

•  Awards, Citations, Honors, Fellowships

1972 - Best Student of the Class - The Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration, Tel Aviv University.

1975 - 1979 Fullbright Fellowship for Doctoral studies at Harvard University.

 

• Publications  (H) = In Hebrew

 

(a)  Authored books

 

1) The Moshav Reservation, a book on decision-making processes in the Israeli Moshav,

     Ramot Publishing Co., Tel Aviv University, 1990. (H)

 

2) Decision to Kill, a book on decision-making processes of murderers, Ramot Publishing

    Co., Tel Aviv University, 1995. (H)

 

3) The Zero Illusion, a novel on crime and decisions, Zmora-Bitan, 2000. (H)

 

4) Rationality and Affect in Decision Making and in Risk Taking, Ramot Publishing Co., Tel Aviv University, 2005. (H)

 

5) How to Prevent Fallacies in Decision Making, Matar Publishing House, 2010. (H)

​

6) Pizzas, Ikea and the Fat Man Dilemma, Improving Decision Making by Using Active and Passive Decisions. Matar Publishing House, 2019. (H)

 

 (b)  Refereed Articles in Scientific Journal (H) = Hebrew

 

13) Yassour, J. (1997) "Rationality and Emotionality in the Decision to Kill," Galileo, 22, 40-46. (H)

 

12) Kroll, Y., Davidovitz, L. and Yassour, J. (1996) "Risk Taking and Altruism," Kibbutz Trends, 21, 51-55.

 

11) Lampert, A. and Yassour, J. (1992) Parental Investment and Risk Taking in Simulated Familial Situations," Journal of Economic Psychology, 13, 499-507.

 

10) Yassour, J. (1992) "Economic and Managerial Aspects of the Status Quo Effect," The Economic Quarterly, 38, 695-700. (H)

 

9) Yassour, J. (1988) "Practical Methods for Estimating the Real Interest Rate under Uncertain Inflation," The Economic Quarterly, 34, 112-115. (H)

 

8) Yassour, J. (1987) "The Moshav - End of Ideological Era," The Economic Quarterly, 33, 159-162. (H)

 

7) Yassour, J. (1986) "The Cost of Status Quo," The Economic Quarterly, 33, 700-702. (H)

 

6) Sarel, D. and Yassour, J. (1984) "Choosing between Discrete Marketing Policy Alternatives under Uncertain Market Response Conditions," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 12, 69-84.

 

5) Yassour, J. (1984) "Risk, Information, and the Behavior of Stockholders," The Economic Quarterly, 31, 97-99. (H)

 

4) Yassour, J. (1982) "Simulating the Impacts of Credit Policy and Fertilizer Subsidy on Central Luzon Rice Farms, the Philippines: Comment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 64, 778.

 

3) Yassour, J. (1981) "Loans under Uncertain Conditions," The Economic Quarterly, 28,  302-304. (H)

 

2) Yassour, J., Zilberman, D. and G. C. Rausser (1981) "Optimal Choices among Alternative Technologies with Stochastic Yield," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 63, 718-723.

 

1) Rausser, G.C. and Yassour, J. (1981) "Multiattribute Utility Analysis: The Case of the Filipino Rice Policy," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 63, 484-494.

 

 (c) Unrefereed professional articles and publications

 

Yassour, J. (2003) "Mental Accounting," Management, p.34. (H)

 

Yassour, J. (2001) "Anchoring and Managerial Decisions," Management, 28-30. (H)

 

Yassour, J. (2001) "Disappointment and Regret in Managerial Decisions," Management, 17-19. (H)

 

Yassour, J. (2001) "East and West in Managerial Decisions," Management, 6-9. (H)

 

Yassour, J. (1999) "Thinking while Waiting in Lines," Management, (H)

 

Yassour, J. (1998) "Rationality and Emotionality in Managerial Decisions," Management, 6-11. (H)

 

Yassour, J. (1998) "The Moshav," in The Kibbutz’s Lexicon, E. Avrahami (Ed.), Yad-Tabenkin, (H)

 

Yassour, J. (1996) "Verbal Interpretation of Frequencies and Emotional Decision Making," Working Paper 1/96, Ruppin Institute.

 

Yassour, J. (1994) "Optimal Bidding Policy," Management, 44-46. (H)

 

Yassour, J. (1993) "The Israeli Moshav - A Period of Transition: Analysis and Views," Presented at the International Conference on New Trends in Organizations, Israel.

 

Yassour, J. (1993) "The Death and the Maiden: Post-Mortem Decision Making," Working Paper 1/93, Ruppin Institute. (H)

 

Yassour, J. (1992) "Risk Taking Propensity and Personal Characteristics," Working Paper 3/92, Ruppin Institute.

 

Yassour, J. (1990) "The Future of Cooperation in the Moshav," Yad Tabenkin. (H)

 

Yassour, J. (1989) "A Proposal for Organizational and Ideological Changes in the Israeli Moshav," The Monthly Review of Settlement and Agriculture. (H)

 

Yassour, J. (1984) "Estimating Uncertain Demand," Management, 15-16. (H)

 

Yassour, J. (1983) "Information Weighted Utility," Working Paper 5/83, Ruppin Institute.

 

Yassour, J. (1982) "Expected Utility and Land Allocation under Risk," Working Paper 11/82, Ruppin Institute.

 

Yassour, J. (1982) "Uncertain Inflation and the Fisher Equation: The Case of Compounded Interest and Inflation," Working Paper 3/82, Ruppin Institute.

 

Rausser, G. C. and Yassour, J. (1980) "An Evaluative Framework for Research and Development Strategies," Working Paper, University of California at Berkeley, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics.

 

Rausser, G. C. and Yassour, J. (1978) "Construction of Decision Support Systems for Agricultural Marketing Boards and Other Public Agencies in Less Developed Countries," Working Paper No. 108, University of California at Berkeley, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics.

 

Yassour, J. (1978) "Optimization Using Exponential Utility with Agricultural Applications," Working Paper No. HBS 78-3, Harvard Business School.

 

(d) Lectures and Presentations at Meetings and Invited Seminars

 

Davidovich, L., and Yassour, J. (2009) " Ambiguity Preference in the Negative Domain", Conference on Behavioral Economics, Erasmus University, Rotterdam. The Netherlands,

 

Davidovich, L. and Yassour, J. (2008) " Ambiguity Preference", 30th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Washington, DC, USA.

 

Yassour, J. (1997) "The Decision to Kill", The Center for the Study of Rationality, The Hebrew University.

 

Schlesinger, R. and Yassour, J. (1993) "Span of Control in the Age of Downsizing," CSU-P/OM Development Conference, Sonoma, CA, February.

 

Yassour, J. (1989) "A Comparison of Risk Taking Propensity between City Dwellers and Kibbutz and Moshav members," Conference on the Kibbutz Research, Israel.

 

• Consulting and Lectures

 

USSR Government, Mendoza (Argentina) Local Government, Bio-Apply - Peru, Skilla – USA, Netafim International

 

The Government of Israel: Ministries of: Agriculture, Defense, Education, Foreign Affairs, Health, Interior, Internal Security, Justice, Tourism.

 

Banks, Credit, and Insurance: The Bank of Israel, Israel Securities Authority, Hapoalim, Leumi, Igud, Mizrahi-Tfachot, First International,  Leumi Card, Visa Cal, Harel Insurance, Migdal Insurance.

 

Health: Asaf Harofe Hospital, Ichilov Medical Center, Rambam Medical Center, Clalit Health Services, Meuchedet Health Services, Israeli Association of Nursing Homes, Biosense, Heal Or, Johnson Medical, Sarel

 

Defense and Security: The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (Mossad), Internal General Security Service of Israel (Shabak), The Israeli Air Force, The Israeli Navy, Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel’s Armament Development Authority, Israel Military Industries, The Israeli Weapon Industry, The Israeli Police, The National Security College, Israeli Defense Forces, The Israeli Prison Authority, The Israeli Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority.

 

Corporations and Organizations: Israel Electric Company, Israel National Water Company (Mekorot), Israel Chemicals Ltd., Israel Industry Association, APC, Applied Materials, Avis, BMC, Caesar Stone, Celebrite, cVidya, Coca cola, Cross Israel Highway, Dead Sea Industries, Edwards, Elbit Systems, ELCA, Electra, Elscint, Eurocom, Gadot-Agro, Haifa Chemicals, Home Center, HP, Indigo, Intel, Laufer Aviation, L'Oreal, Marvell, Matrix, Micron, Microsoft, Netafim, Orbotech, Osem, Pelephone, Partner, Paz, Pfizer, Plasson, Sandisk, Superfarm, Supergas, Tahal, Telrad, Tower Semiconductor, Unilever