MANUNKIND: Determinants and Dynamics of Collaborative Exploitation
Exploitation takes many forms ranging from wage theft, to human trafficking, to forced labor. Despite ongoing calls to address exploitation, the fundamentals of this issue are severely understudied. We have only limited understanding of its prevalence, effects, and the strategies to counter it. In response, the ERC-funded project MANUNKIND adopts a three-pillared approach to analyzing the dynamics of exploitation, combining (1) formal theory, (2) experimental scrutiny, and (3) real-world data.
Humans: masters of exploitation
Current estimates put the number of people living under conditions of “modern slavery” somewhere around 50 million (Rusch, 2026). Throughout the millennia, and across cultures, groups of humans have invented countless systems of suppression for labor extraction from other groups of humans. These institutions ranged from relatively mild forms of debt bondage or serfdom to the Atlantic slave trade. Yet it remains largely unknown where and when humans are likely to use which forms of collaborative exploitation and why.
Ancient problem, modern methods
In the ERC-funded project MANUNKIND, led by Hannes Rusch, researchers study the whole spectrum of exploitative behavior, ranging from working conditions perceived as exploitative to slavery and human trafficking. Their approach rests on three pillars:
- First, they employ game theory to model the strategic logic of exploitative interactions.
- Second, they use the toolkits of experimental economics and social psychology to study how humans behave in situations of strong asymmetric dependency that afford exploitation.
- Third, they analyze real-world data sets to test which theories of exploitation also hold beyond controlled lab contexts.
Overall, the research strives for methodological convergence: when formal theory, experimental scrutiny, and real-world data corroborate the same insights.
Prevalence of exploitation
Julia Teufel, a doctoral researcher with a background in social psychology, uses observational data and experiments to study milder forms of exploitation that may happen any day in any workplace. In one study, she observes that three out of four participants in a US representative sample have felt exploited at least once in their career irrespective of age, gender, ethnicity, and income. Julia found that workers with less power over themselves are more likely to perceive exploitation in real-life situations – a link which she could also confirm experimentally (Teufel et al. 2025). This means that empowering workers may be a crucial step to reduce “everyday” exploitation in the workplace.
Effects of exploitation
Gewei Cao, another doctoral researcher on the team with a background in economics, adopts an econometric approach to studying the effects and aftermath of human trafficking. Using crime statistics and multi-wave survey data, Gewei leverages regional variation of human trafficking in Romania to examine how the prevalence of trafficking erodes different forms of trust (Cao & Rusch, 2025). His research highlights that contemporary forms of exploitation can have severe impacts not just on victims and their families, but on whole societies.
Strategies against exploitation
Maximilian Schmitt, a postdoctoral researcher with a mathematics background, uses game theory to analyze the strategies exploiters use and to understand how these can be counteracted by policy. Max has developed the first comprehensive principal-agent model that encompasses the three most essential mechanisms behind exploitation: confinement, threat, and deception (Schmitt et al., 2025). His research highlights that although increasing the cost of exploitation and adopting licensing systems can curb exploitation in theory, both countermeasures can also have unwanted consequences if they are applied prematurely.
Tackling exploitation
In the context the global socioeconomic situation, the results have broad significance for policymakers in Germany, Europe, and beyond. Recurrent scandals involving the gig-economy, the logistics sector, and precarious care work are loud reminders that exploitation is a growing issue. Correspondingly, in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal to end modern slavery, the German government has already launched a national action plan against exploitation. Yet, the scientific literature falls short on being able to provide science-based solutions for meeting these goals. MANUNKIND’s results help to address this concern by examining the dynamics of exploitation through a mixed-method interdisciplinary approach.
