RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Professor of Economics
Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Researcher
CESifo Research Network, Affiliate
IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Research Affiliate
OECD/INFE, Member of the Research Adivsory Group
© Joseph Ruben Heicks
I am a Professor of Economics, especially Economics of Education and Economic Education, at RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Researcher at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, CESifo Research Network Affiliate, Research Affiliate at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, and a Member of the Research Advisory Group of the OECD/INFE.
I am also associated with the Mannheim Institute for Financial Education (MIFE). I currently serve as Associate Editor of the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance (JBEF), on the advisory board of editors of the Journal of Financial Literacy and Wellbeing, and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Financial Literacy and Personal Finance Research Network (G53 Network).
From March until August 2025, I have been a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) at Stanford University. Previously, I was a Research Associate at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin). I hold a doctoral degree in Economics and Social Sciences (Dr. sc. pol.) and a Master of Education (M.Ed.) from Kiel University, Germany.
My research interests are in the area of applied microeconomics, especially economics of education, development economics, and household finance.
My work has appeared in leading journals such as Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Development Economics, World Bank Economic Review, and others.
I also conduct research on evidence based teaching of economics and finance at any level. This type of work has appeared in Economics of Education Review, Journal of Economic Psychology, and Journal of Economic Education, among others.
Our articles have been mentioned in media outlets such as The New York Times, Fortune, The Washington Post, Forbes, The American Prospect, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Deutschlandfunk.
Download my CV.
Feel free to get in touch via E-Mail or LinkedIn, and follow my updates on Google Scholar, IDEAS, SSRN, Researchgate, ORCID, or GitHub.