Bastian Westbrock
I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Microeconomic Theory and Experiments at the University of Hamburg. Previously, I held positions as a PostDoc and Assistant Professor at the Universities of Utrecht and Hagen.
In my research, I focus on social and economic networks and their role in shaping such diverse issues as the innovative capabilities of people or firms, organizational learning, or global income inequality. Towards this end, I also study the game theoretic and psychological foundations of behavior in networks.
Social networks
Networks of firms
Criminal networks
Behavioral economics
Game theory
Scientific publications
Social preferences on networks, (presentation), with Sarah Rezaei, Stephanie Rosenkranz, and Utz Weitzel, Journal of Public Economics, 2024
The network origins of the gains from trade, (older version), with Maarten Bosker, Journal of Economic Theory, 2024
Selecting Legal Advisors, (appendix), with Katrin Muehlfeld and Utz Weitzel, Journal of Management, 2019
The structure and dynamics of the global network of R&D partnerships, with Michal Bojanowski and Rense Corten, Journal of Technology Transfer, 2012
Natural concentration, (appendix), RAND Journal of Economics, 2010
A microeconomic foundation for optimal money laundering policies, (appendix), with Maryam Imanpour, Stephanie Rosenkranz, Brigitte Unger, and Joras Ferwerda, International Review of Law and Economics, 2019
Gender, competitiveness, and task difficulty, with Britta Hoyer, Thomas van Huizen, Linda Keijzer, Sarah Rezaei, and Stephanie Rosenkranz, Labour Economics, 2020
A simple model of panic buying, with Robert Schmidt and Hendrik Hoegen, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2023
Rational Signals of Weakness in a Market Entry Game, (appendix), with Jurjen Kamphorst and Ewa Mendys-Kamphorst, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 2013
Close but not too close? Optimal copycat strategies in the light of negative publicity by the original product, with Joachim Grosser and Hendrik Sonnabend, B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, 2024
Fixed costs matter even when they are sunk, with Jurjen Kamphorst and Ewa Mendys-Kamphorst, Economics Letters, 2020
Non-scientific articles
The network origins of the gains from trade, with Maarten Bosker, VoxEU column, 2019
Just and unjust behavior in different contexts, with Sarah Rezaei and Stephanie Rosenkranz, ESB column, 2016
Behavioral economics
Behavioral economics
Social networks
Networks of firms
Industrial organization
Ongoing work
On gender, risk-taking, and performance in tournaments: evidence from a high-risk environment, with Hendrik Sonnabend and Mario Lackner
On motivational peer effects, with Sarah Rezaei and Hendrik Sonnabend
Optimal environmental policies in a dynamic world economy
Capacity investments in a competitive energy market, joint with Lukas Block
Current teaching
Microeconomics I and II (University of Hamburg)
Introduction to Game Theory (University of Hamburg)
Introduction to Network Economics (University of Hamburg)
Contact
bastian.westbrock[at]uni-hamburg.de