Patricio Dalton is an Associate Professor of Economics at Tilburg University. His research examines how biological, psychological and social factors influence decision-making, and how decisions affect welfare and economic development. Dalton’s theoretical work addresses the implications of bounded rationality for welfare economics and the link between aspirations and poverty. His experimental research has focused on the effect of poverty on productivity, preferences, cognitive functions and rationality. He has also studied the effect of goal setting on productivity and of unemployment benefits on labor supply.

Most recently, he has designed and conducted field experiments to understand the determinants of small-firm growth funded by a DFID Grant. In Kenya, he studies the effect of mobile money on firm performance. In Indonesia, he investigates how business skills can be learned from successful peers and in Ghana how goal setting can become an effective low-cost tool to help small-businesses grow.

Dalton holds a PhD in Economics from Warwick University.