Marie Claire Villeval is Research Professor in economics at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and she is affiliated with the GATE (Groupe d’Analyse et de Théorie Economique) research institute, at the University of Lyon, France. She has been the director of GATE from 2007 to 2016 and she is now director of the GATE-LAB experimental platform. She is Past-President of the Economic Science Association (ESA). She is a former President of the French Economic Association (AFSE) and the Founding President of the French Association of Experimental Economics (ASFEE). She has been a member of the executive committee of the European Association of Labour Economists (EALE) and she is now Fellow of the EALE. She has been a member of the French Low Wage commission (2017-2024).

She is Department Editor at Management Science, Advisory Editor at Experimental Economics and Honorary Editor at the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. She is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of the Economic Science Association. She was formerly co-editor in chief of Experimental Economics (2017-2021), co-editor of the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (2014-2016) and she was on the boards of Management Science, the Journal of Economic Psychology, the Journal of Public Economic Theory, the Australian Journal of Labour Economics.

She is Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, the most prestigious distinction in France. She is also Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite. She is a member of the Academia Europaea and Fellow of the European Association of Labour Economists. She has been awarded the Silver Medal of CNRS in 2017, the Allais Memorial Prize in Behavioral Sciences in 2024, and the Revue Economique Prize in 2018.

She obtained her PhD in economics from the University Paris X Nanterre and her Habilitation from the University of Lyon.

Her main research interests focus on experimental economics, behavioral economics, public economics, and personnel economics. They include the conduct of laboratory and field experiments on the selective treatment of information, narratives, and self-excuses morality and social norms, incentives and motivation, teamwork and leadership, punishment and cooperation, ego utility and self-image.
She has published in such economic journals as American Economic Review, Management Science, the Economic Journal, PNAS, Experimental Economics, Games and Economic Behavior, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, ...

She joined IZA as a Research Fellow in October 2003.