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Timothy Feddersen
Timothy Feddersen

MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS & DECISION SCIENCES; SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
Wendell Hobbs Professor of Managerial Economics & Decision Sciences
Director of Social Enterprise at Kellogg Program

Print Overview
Professor Timothy Feddersen joined the faculty at the Kellogg School of Management in 1995. He is the Wendell Hobbs Professor of Managerial Politics and Director of the Social Enterprise at Kellogg Program (SEEK). Professor Feddersen’s research centers on the manner in which elections aggregate dispersed information; the linkage between information and participation in elections; modeling ethically motivated agents in games; bargaining in legislatures; and the informal role of activists in the economy. He is currently investigating models of whistle-blowing and the way in which the need to rationalize choice constrains decision making. Professor Feddersen also teaches several classes at Kellogg including Strategy in the Nonmarket Environment, Values-Based Leadership and Values and Strategic Crisis Management. All of these classes focus on the way leaders must anticipate the reaction of stakeholder groups within the firm, in the media, in legislatures, courts and in public opinion broadly.

Areas of Expertise
Corporate Social Responsibility
Crisis Management
Political Economy/Design
Public Management
Strategy in Non-Market Environments
Voting Systems
  • Recent Media Coverage

    Wall Street Journal: Top Small Workplaces 2009 - 9/28/2009

    WBBM-AM: - 9/28/2009

    Economist Intelligence Unit: Executive Briefing: Rationalization in decision making - 8/17/2009

    New York Times: When Duty Calls: The Value of Voting, Beyond Politics - 11/5/2008

    See all Kellogg in the Media
Print Vita
Education
PhD, 1993, Political Science, University of Rochester
BA, 1985, Mathematics, Indiana University

Academic Positions
Professor, Managerial Economics & Decision Sciences, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1998-present
Assistant Professor, Managerial Economics & Decision Sciences, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1995-1998
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Northwestern University, 1992-1995

 
Print Research
Research Interests
Political economy with a specific interest in democratic institutions and voting systems

Articles
Austen-Smith, David and Timothy Feddersen. 2009. Information Aggregation and Communication in Committees. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. B 364(1518): 763-769.
Austen-Smith, David and Timothy Feddersen. 2008. In Response to Jurg Steiner's "Concept Stretching: The Case of Deliberation". European Political Science. 7(2): 191-193.
Feddersen, Timothy and Alvaro Sandroni. 2006. A Theory of Participation in Elections. American Economic Review. 96(4): 1271-1282.
Austen-Smith, David and Timothy Feddersen. 2006. Deliberation, Preference Uncertainty and Voting Rules. American Political Science Review. 100(2): 209-217.
Feddersen, Timothy and Alvaro Sandroni. 2006. Ethical Voters and Costly Information Acquisition. Quarterly Journal of Political Science. 1(3)
Feddersen, Timothy and Alvaro Sandroni. 2006. The Calculus of Ethical Voting. International Journal of Game Theory. 35(1): 1-25.
Feddersen, Timothy. 2004. Rational Choice Theory and the Paradox of Not Voting. Journal of Economic Perspectives. 18(1): 99-112.
Feddersen, Timothy and Thomas W. Gilligan. 2001. Saints and Markets: Activists and the Supply of Credence Goods. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy. 10(1): 149-171.
Diermeier, Daniel and Timothy Feddersen. 2000. Information and Congressional Hearings. American Journal of Political Science. 44(1): 51-65.
Diermeier, Daniel and Timothy Feddersen. 1999. Information and congressional hearings.. American Journal of Political Science. 44(1)
Feddersen, Timothy and Wolfgang Pesendorfer. 1999. Abstention in Elections with Asymmetric Information and Diverse Preferences. American Political Science Review. 93(3): 381-398.
Feddersen, Timothy. 1999. Institutions, Rules, and the Lawmaking Process. Congress and the Presidency. 26(1): 89-95.
Feddersen, Timothy and Wolfgang Pesendorfer. 1999. Strategic Voting and the Unanimity Rule. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 96(19): 10572-10574.
Feddersen, Timothy. 1998. Book Review: "Making Votes Count: Strategic Coordination in the World's Electoral Systems" by Gary Cox. Journal of Economic Literature. 36(4): 2169-2170.
Diermeier, Daniel and Timothy Feddersen. 1998. Cohesion in Legislatures and the Vote of Confidence Procedure. American Political Science Review. 92(3): 611-621.
Diermeier, Daniel and Timothy Feddersen. 1998. Comparing Constitutions: Cohesion and Distribution in Legislatures. European Economic Review. 42(3-5): 665-672.
Feddersen, Timothy and Wolfgang Pesendorfer. 1998. Convicting the Innocent: The Inferiority of Unanimous Jury Verdicts. American Political Science Review. 92(1): 23-15.
Feddersen, Timothy and Wolfgang Pesendorfer. 1997. Information Aggregation and Voting Behavior in Elections. Econometrica. 65(5): 1029-1058.
Feddersen, Timothy and Wolfgang Pesendorfer. 1997. Voting Behavior and Information Aggregation in Elections With Private Information. Econometrica. 65(5): 1029-1058.
Feddersen, Timothy and Wolfgang Pesendorfer. 1996. The Swing Voter's Curse. American Economic Review. 86(3): 408-424.
Feddersen, Timothy. 1992. A Voting Model Implying Duverger's Law and Positive Turnout. American Journal of Political Science. 36(4): 938-962.
Feddersen, Timothy, Itai Sened and Stephan G. Wright. 1990. Rational Voting and Candidate Entry Under Plurality Rule. American Journal of Political Science. 34(4): 1005-1016.
Working Papers
Feddersen, Timothy. Forthcoming. Strategic Voting.
Austen-Smith, David and Timothy Feddersen. 2007. A Note on Preference Uncertainty and Communication in Committee.
Feddersen, Timothy, Sean Gailmard. 2007. Moral Bias in Large Elections: Theory and Experimental Evidence.
Austen-Smith, David and Timothy Feddersen. Public Disclosure, Private Revelation or Silence: Whistleblowing Incentives and Managerial Policy.
Book Chapters
Austen-Smith, David and Timothy Feddersen. 2005. "Deliberation and Voting Rules." In Social Choice and Strategic Decisions: Essays in Honor of Jeffrey S. Banks, edited by David Austen-Smith and John Duggan, Springer-Verlag.
Other
Austen-Smith, David and Timothy Feddersen. "Deliberation and Voting Rules.".
Diermeier, Daniel and Timothy Feddersen. "Cohesion in Legislatures: Procedural and Policy Coalitions." Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Cases
Feddersen, Timothy and Scot R. Wheeler. 2007. The Environmental Entrepreneur. Case 5-307-503 (KEL370).
Feddersen, Timothy, Jochen Gottschalk and Lars Peters. 2007. Roche and Tamiflu: Doing Business in the Shadow of a Pandemic. Case 5-107-010 (KEL349).
Feddersen, Timothy and Senoe Torgerson. 2007. U.S. Food Aid: Cash or Commodities?. Case 5-307-510 (KEL342).

 
Print Teaching
Teaching Interests
Political economy with a specific interest in democratic institutions and voting systems
Full-Time / Part-Time MBA
Global Initiatives in Management (GIM) (INTL-473-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: Biotechnology Management, International Business

This course offers students an opportunity to learn about non-U.S. business environments within an innovative and flexible framework that combines traditional classroom-based learning with structured in-country field research. From its inception in 1989 as one class of 34 students covering the Soviet Union, the program has grown to become a cornerstone of the Kellogg experience for many students. The school currently sponsors 13 GIM courses composed of approximately 400 students traveling to 15 countries. Evanston full-time students gain admission to GIM classes through the bidding process in the fall quarter. Classroom instruction is held during the winter quarter, followed by two weeks of field research abroad and seminar presentations of written student reports during the spring quarter. (TMP and EMP GIM classes sometimes follow different schedules.) GIM courses are organized by student leaders under the guidance of a faculty adviser. If you would like to become a GIM student leader, please contact the IBMP office for more information.

Values and Crisis Decision Making (SEEK-440-A)

This course counts toward the following majors: Social Enterprise

In recent decades corporations have increasingly become the dominant source for political and social change. Increased globalization and technological progress have further accelerated this process. Businesses are now held accountable by standards other than legal compliance or financial performance. Successful business leaders have recognized that these challenges are best mastered by a commitment to values-based management. However, simply "doing the right thing" is not enough. Rather, companies increasingly find themselves as targets of aggressive legal action, media coverage and social pressure. Organizations must be prepared to handle rapidly changing environments and anticipate potential threats. This requires a deep understanding of the strategic complexities in managing various stakeholders and constituencies. To confront students with these challenges in a realistic fashion, the class is structured around a rich set of challenging case studies and crisis simulation exercises.

Values-Based Leadership (SEEK-460-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: Management & Organizations, Social Enterprise.

The first issue a leader in the role of manager, entrepreneur, investor or stakeholder must address about an organization concerns its "value proposition," whether deciding to enter an industry or to begin an undertaking. However, this analysis is incomplete if leaders fail to consider the wider impact of the organization's actions on its own employees and on society. This course focuses on the problem of incorporating a wide variety of value perspectives into decision-making. Values-based leadership involves the ability to take the disparate value propositions of various stakeholders and integrate them into a coherent vision. We explore how recognizing and incorporating competing values claims throughout the organization is often facilitated and hindered by a number of psychological, organizational and cultural processes. Students will come to understand the variety of underlying mechanisms managers of organizations typically have at their disposal to successfully implement values objectives and select among different approaches, while anticipating the constraints placed on choice by the organization's market and non-market environments.

Executive MBA
Strategic Crisis Management (SEEKX-910-0)
Strategic Crisis Management provides conceptual tools for managers in high-pressure, complex crisis situations. Topics include management and media, dealing with activists and interest groups, and surviving legal, legislative and regulatory challenges.