Research

In general, I am using field and laboratory experiments to explore research questions around the importance of social preferences for economic behavior. For instance, some of my research covers factors that shape cooperation in groups, asking: Do remuneration schemes and production functions affect cooperation? Can decentralized social sanctions help to mitigate social dilemmas? To what extent does this depend on the presence of counter-punishment opportunities, latent payback mechanisms or probation?  Other parts of my research focus more on individual decision making, for instance when it comes to rule-following behavior or environmental behavior.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

 "Is pro-environmental effort affected by information about others’ behavior?" (with Dominik Suri and Niklas Bongers)

Ecological Economics, 2025, 108437. (link)


 "Managing Expectations: How Selective Information Affects Cooperation and Punishment in Social Dilemmas" (with Christoph Engel and Michael Kurschilgen)

Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2021, 187, 111-136.


 "Peer Punishment in a Cooperation and Coordination Game" (with Felix Albrecht)

Games, 2018, 9(3), 54ff.


 "Cooperation and Punishment: The individual-level perspective" (with Felix Albrecht and Christian Traxler)

Journal of Public Economics, 2018, 165, 1-16.


"The effectiveness of incentive schemes in the presence of implicit effort cost" (with Sebastian Goerg and Jonas Radbruch)

 Management Science, 2019, 65(9), 3949-4450.


 "The joint benefits of observed and unobserved social sanctions" (with Andreas Glöckner and Andreas Nicklisch)

 Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 2018, 75, 105-116.


 "Leadership Effectiveness and Institutional Frames" (with Gerrit Frackenpohl and Adrian Hillenbrand)

 Experimental Economics, 2016, 19, 842-863.


 "Institution formation and cooperation with heterogeneous agents" (with Sebastian Schaube, Hannah-Schildberg Hörisch and Elina Khachatryan)

 European Economic Review, 2015, 78, 248-268.


 "On Probation – An experimental analysis" (with Christoph Engel, Heike Hennig-Schmidt and Bernd Irlenbusch)  

 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 2015, 12(2), 252-288. 


 "Mitigating Extortive Corruption? Experimental Evidence" (with Elina Khachatryan and Björn Vollan)

 Journal of Economics and Statistics, 2015, 235/2, 228-241.


 "Can higher rewards lead to less effort? Incentive reversal in teams" (with Esteban Klor, Eyal Winter, and Ro’i Zultan)

 Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2014, 97, 72-83.  


 "Elections and Deceptions" (with Luca Corazzini, Michel André Maréchal and Antonio Nicolò)

 American Journal of Political Science, 2014, 58(3), 579-592.


 "First Impressions are more important than early intervention: Qualifying Broken Windows Theory in the Lab" (with Christoph Engel et al.)

 International Review of Law and Economics, 2014, 37,126-136.


 "Mitigating Extortive Corruption? Experimental Evidence" (with Elina Khachatryan and Björn Vollan)

 Journal of Economics and Statistics, 2015, 235/2, 228-241.


"Choosing Your Object of Benevolence: A Field Experiment on Donation Options" (with Bodo Aretz)

 Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 2013, 115(1), 62-73.


 "Do Wage Cuts Damage Work Morale? Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment" (with Clemens Puppe and Michel André Maréchal)

 Journal of the European Economic Association, 2013, 11(4), 853-870.


 "The Currency of Reciprocity – Gift-Exchange in the Workplace" (with Clemens Puppe and Michel André Maréchal)

 American Economic Review, 2012, 102(4), 1644-1662.

 "Equity and Efficiency in Multi-Worker Firms - Insights from Experimental Economics" (with Johannes Abeler, Steffen Altmann, Sebastian J. Goerg, and Matthias Wibral)

 Analyse und Kritik, 2011, Vol. 33(1), 325-347.


 "Treating Equals Unequally – Incentives in Teams, Workers' Motivation, and Production Technology." (with Sebastian Goerg and Ro’i Zultan)

 Journal of Labor Economics, 2010, Vol. 28 (4), 747-772.


 "Gift Exchange and Workers' Fairness Concerns: When Equality is Unfair." (with Johannes Abeler, Steffen Altman and Matthias Wibral)

 Journal of the European Economic Association, 2010, Vol. 8(6), 1299-1324.


 "Leading with(out) sacrifice? A Public-Goods Experiment with a Privileged Player." (with Andreas Glöckner, Bernd Irlenbusch, Andreas Nicklisch and Hans-Theo Normann)

 Economic Inquiry, 2011, Vol. 49 (2), 591-597.


 "The interaction of legal and social norm enforcement." (with Christian Traxler)

 Journal of Public Economic Theory, 2011, Vol. 13(5), 639-660.


 "Two are better than One! Individuals’ Contributions to “Unpacked” Public Goods." (with Michele Bernasconi, Luca Corazzini and Michel André Maréchal)

 Economics Letters, 2009, Vol. 104 (1), 31-33.


 "(When and How) Do Voters Try to Manipulate? Experimental Evidence from Borda Elections" (with Clemens Puppe)

 Public Choice, 2009, Vol. 139 (1), 39-52.


 "Behavioural Finance meets Experimental Macroeconomics – On the Determinants of Currency Trade Decisions" (with Johannes Kaiser)

 Journal of Behavioral Finance, 2009, Vol. 10 (1), 44-54.


 "Experimental Evidence on the Benefits of Eliminating Exchange Rate Uncertainties" (with Reinhard Selten, Jürgen von Hagen and Robin Pope)

 Journal of Economics and Business, India, 2008, Vol. 7 (1), 1-31.


 "Commuters' Route Choice Behaviour" (with Reinhard Selten, Michael Schreckenberg, Thomas Pitz and Thorsten Chmura)

 Games and Economic Behavior, 2007, Vol. 58 (2), 394-406.


 "Testing (Beliefs about) Social Preferences: Evidence from an Experimental Coordination Game" (with Clemens Puppe, Thomas Pitz and Thorsten Chmura)

 Economics Letters, 2005, Vol. 88 (2), 214-220.

Book Articles

Working Papers