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 GATE-LAB. She is President of the Economic Science Association (ESA). She was the 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 is co-editor in chief of Experimental Economics and she is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of the Economic Science Association, the Journal of Neurosciences, Psychology and Economics, the Review of Behavioral Economics. She was formerly 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 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 cheating and tax evasion, incentives and motivation, teamwork and leadership, punishment and cooperation, status seeking and ego utility, self-image, emotions.
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, Social Choice and Welfare, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Economic Inquiry, Industrial and Labor Relations Review.

She joined IZA as a Research Fellow in October 2003.