Research

I am a microeconomist with a keen interest in the dark side of human behavior. My work focuses on topics such as discrimination, corruption, power abuse, tax evasion, experiences of war, spiteful behavior, etc. One of the central themes in my research is examining how morals intersect with economic systems. For instance, I investigate how discrimination impacts the formation of job networks, what factors contribute to the abuse of power, how polarization leads to destructive behaviors, the effects of war experiences on religiosity, the consequences of social exclusion on both victims and perpetrators, and how individuals' spiteful preferences can predict their economic behavior. 

To address each of my research questions, I employ the tools that best provide credible and convincing answers. Much of my research has a strong theoretical foundation, which I develop to derive novel predictions and to provide intuitions in complex settings. I typically provide empirical support for these novel predictions by using laboratory, online, and field experiments to identify causal relationships. At times, I complement the clean experimental insights with more natural data (particularly obtained through big-data approaches like web-scraping), while other times, I rely on machine-learning tools like computer vision to classify or extract data from natural field settings.

More broadly my research interests are:

• (Applied) microeconomics

• Experimental and Behavioral Economics

• Labor Economics

• Political Economy

• Public Economics

• Economic Theory

• Economics of Crime

1. Evsyukova, Y. ®  Rusche, F. ®  Mill, W. (2025).  LinkedOut? A Field Experiment on Discrimination in Job Network Formation. Quarterly Journal of Economics. 140 (1), 283–334.

2. Hoeft, L., Mill, W., Vostroknutov, A. (2025). Normative Perception of Power Abuse. Kyklos. forthcoming.

3. Hoeft, L., Mill, W. (2024). Abuse of Power – An Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Power and Transparency on Centralized Punishment. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. 220, 305-324.

4. Brunner, F., Gamm, F., Mill, W. (2023). The IKEA-effect in Finance. Journal of Banking and Finance. 154, 106529.

5. Mill, W., Morgan, J. (2022). Competition between friends and foes. European Economic Review. 147, 104171.

6. Kirchkamp, O., Mill, W. (2021). Spite vs. Risk: Explaining overbidding - A theoretical and experimental investigation. Games and Economic Behavior. 130, 616-635.

7. Mill, W., Morgan, J. (2021). The cost of a divided America: an experimental study into destructive behavior. Experimental Economics. 25, 974–1001.

8. Kirchkamp, O., Mill, W. (2020). Conditional cooperation and the effect of punishment. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. 174, 150-172.

9. Mill, W., Theelen, M. (2019). Social Value Orientation and group size uncertainty in public good dilemmas. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics. 81, 19-38.

1. Kirchkamp, O., Liu S., Mill, W., Wang X. (2025). Spiteful bidding in first-price all-pay auctions. Economics Letters. 254, 112462.

2. Mill, W. (2017). The spite motive in third-price auctions. Economics Letters. 161, 71-73.

3. Hoeft, L., Mill, W. (2017). Selfish punishers: An experimental investigation of designated punishment behavior in public goods. Economics Letters. 157, 41-44.

1. Kohler, B., Mill, W. (2025). Cultural Differences in the Beauty Premium. Nature: Scientific Reports 15, 17632 (2025).

2. Kurschilgen, M., Hoeft, L., Mill, W. (2024). Norms as Obligations. International Review of Law and Economics. 81, 106235.

3. Werner, B., Hariskos, W., Mill, W. (2024). Moneyball: Inducing situations of actual social exclusion. Social Psychology. 55(5), 229–242.

4. Farjam, M., Mill, W., Panganiban, M. (2016). Ignorance Is Bliss, But for Whom? The Persistent Effect of Good Will on Cooperation. Games. 7(4), 33.

1. Fisar, M., Greiner, B., Huber, C., Katok, E., Ozkes, A., and the Management Science Reproducibility Collaboration∗ (2024). Reproducibility in Management Science. Management Science. 70 (3), 1343–1356 ∗Note: Member of the Management Science Reproducibility Collaboration

2. Kirschner, H., Zimmermann, A.,  Singh, S.,   Forstmeier, S., Werner, B., Mill, W., Strauss, B. (2019). "Erinnern, erzählen, dabei sein" – Teilhabe älterer Menschen durch Lebensrückblickinterviews. Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung . 14, 40–46

3.  Zimmermann, A., Kirschner, H., Singh, S., Altmann, U., Mill, W., Forstmeier, S., Strauss, B. (2019). Praxistaugliche Materialien zur Durchführung von Lebensrückblicken. Psychotherapeut. 64, 31-37.