Richard is an economist specializing in social science genetics. His research investigates how genetic variants give rise to the heritability of traits like risk taking, educational attainment, or impulsivity, and then how these genetic propensities lead to adverse health and health inequalities over the lifespan. A particular interest of his is to understand the genetic contributions to preventable health-risk behaviors for which the socioeconomic environment also plays a major role (e.g., smoking or substance use). Richard’s recent work investigates economic consequences of genomic medicine and consumer genetic testing for various markets (e.g., those for healthcare or insurance).

Richard holds an M.Sc. in Economics from Linköping University, Sweden. In 2019, he was awarded a Ph.D. in Social-Science Genetics by the Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research (CNCR) at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Before his appointment as assistant professor in the Department of Economics at Universiteit Leiden, he worked as postdoctoral fellow for three years, which included a role as visiting researcher at Geisinger, a U.S.-based health-care system with a spearhead genetic research program. In 2018, Richard and Prof. Dr. Philipp Koellinger were jointly awarded a topicality grant by the Dutch academic network Netspar to study economic consequences of genetic testing for insurance and retirement.