Behavioral Economics of Crime and Conflict
Independent Research Group
How come that we as humans are those social animals that became uniquely cooperative, cultural, and civilized? How come that, at the exact same time, we are our own worst enemy, dehumanizing, subjugating, exploiting, and aggressing each other? And, most importantly: How can we prevent the conflicting interests permeating all human societies from escalating into segregation, suppression, violence, and war?
The group’s research contributes to answering these fundamental questions. We leverage our methodological expertise in behavioral economics, especially formal modelling, behavioral experiments, and applied microeconomics, to study the dark sides of human behavior – for example: discrimination, exploitation, violence, and conflict. In addition, we provide economic analyses and policy recommendations in related applied contexts. We are a young and highly dedicated interdisciplinary research team striving to conduct cutting-edge, theory-driven, and transparent research in compliance with the standards of Open Science.
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