EXC 2126:  ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy

• Subject Area: Economics
• Term: since 2019
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 390838866

The goal of this Cluster of Excellence is to advance a new paradigm for the analysis of markets & public policy in light of fundamental societal and technological challenges, such as digitalization, global financial crises, rising inequality and political polarization. Such challenges cannot be fully understood by relying on traditional economic approaches that emphasize market power, externalities and information asymmetries as sources of market failures, and cannot be tackled by regulation, taxation or public goods provision alone. Instead, they require a comprehensive and innovative approach that considers new objectives and new tools.The Cluster will evaluate market outcomes and public policies with respect to new objectives that transcend narrow notions of economic efficiency and welfare, such as socially responsible behavior in markets, procedural fairness or privacy protection. New tools for public policy analysis include the application of large-scale laboratory and field experiments or "big data" to assess the effectiveness of public policy, and the design of allocation mechanisms for situations where monetary exchange is socially unacceptable (e.g. the allocation of donor organs). Based on these new challenges, objectives and tools, the Cluster develops novel research approaches, thus paving the way for a new paradigm for the analysis of markets & public policy. Rigorous theoretical models are combined with a thorough empirical investigation of socio-economic behavior, taking legal and political constraints into account. This further enables the development of new policy tools, including the design of markets, behavioral interventions and mechanisms for political decision-making, thereby offering innovative solutions to societal challenges.The group of principal investigators brings together outstanding researchers from economics and neighboring disciplines – management, psychology, political science and law – from the Universities of Bonn and Cologne, the Behavior and Inequality Research Institute (briq) and the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, with the goal of establishing a leading international research center on markets & public policy. Research activities will be bundled in the Reinhard Selten Institute, founded in 2017 by the two universities, and will include an International Faculty Program. The Young ECONtribute Program will offer targeted measures to promote doctoral students and postdocs. Flexible career tracks for early career researchers, including positions as Selten Fellows with tenure track, will enable the Cluster to attract internationally competitive researchers. In order to foster equality of opportunity, the Cluster will apply hiring quotas and offer mentoring programs for female researchers as well as childcare support. The ECONtribute Network will promote two-way knowledge exchange between researchers and policymakers.

• DFG Programme: Clusters of Excellence (ExStra)
• Applicant Institution: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
• Co-Applicant Institution: Universität zu Köln
• Participating Institution: Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung von Gemeinschaftsgütern; briq - Institute on Behavior and Inequality
• Spokespersons: Professor Dr. Thomas Dohmen, since 2/2020; Professor Dr. Matthias Heinz, since 4/2021; Professor Dr. Andreas Schabert, from 2/2020 until 4/2021
• Participating Researchers: Professor Peter Cramton, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Armin Falk; Professor Dr. Lorenz Götte; Professor Martin Hellwig, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Wilhelm Hofmann; Professorin Dr. Eva Hoppe-Fischer; Professor Dr. Bernd Irlenbusch; Professor Dr. André Kaiser; Professor Dr. Daniel Krähmer; Professor Dr. Keith Kuester; Professor Dr. Stephan Lauermann; Professor Dr. Benny Moldovanu; Professor Dr. Axel Ockenfels; Professorin Dr. Pia Pinger; Professor Sven-Oliver Proksch, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Bettina Rockenbach; Professor Dr. Moritz Schularick; Professor Dr. Dirk Sliwka; Professor Dr. Matthias Sutter; Professor Dr. Daniel Zimmer