Behavioral Foundations

Behavioral Economics, Experimental Economics, Labor Economics

Armin Falk is Professor of Economics at the University of Bonn. His research interests comprise the determinants and consequences of time, risk, and social preferences; the behavioral economics of climate change; sources of inequality; early-childhood development; and the malleability of moral behavior. Armin Falk has received two ERC grants and was awarded the Gossen Prize in 2008, the Leibniz Prize in 2009, and the Yrjö Jahnsson Award in 2011. As an organizer or keynote speaker, Falk has been involved in numerous conferences and summer schools. He is a Fellow of the European Economic Association and the Econometric Society. He is also Director of the Bonn Laboratory for Experimental Economics (BonnEconLab) and is affiliated with J-PAL, the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), CESifo, and the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics.

Published papers

• Mentoring and Schooling Decisions: Causal Evidence

  Falk, A., Kosse, F., & Pinger, P. (2026). Mentoring and schooling decisions: Causal evidence. Journal of Political Economy, 134(1), 366-396.

• Misperceived Social Norms and Willingness to Act Against Climate Change

  Andre, P., Boneva, T., Chopra, F., & Falk, A. (2024). Misperceived social norms and willingness to act against climate change. Review of Economics and Statistics, 1-46.

• Socioeconomic Status and Inequalities in Children’s IQ and Economic Preferences

  Falk, A., Kosse, F., Pinger, P., Schildberg-Hörisch, H., & Deckers, T. (2021). Socioeconomic Status and Inequalities in Children’s IQ and Economic Preferences. Journal of Political Economy.

• The Preference Survey Module: A Validated Instrument for Measuring Risk Time and Social Preferences

  Falk, A., Becker, A., Dohmen, T., Huffman, D., & Sunde, U. (2022). The Preference Survey Module: A Validated Instrument for Measuring Risk Time and Social Preferences. Management Science.

• Patience and Comparative Development

  Sunde, U., Dohmen, T., Enke, B., Falk, A., Huffman, D., & Meyerheim, G. (2021) Patience and Comparative Development. The Review of Economic Studies.

Discussion papers

• The Origins of Gender Differences in Competitiveness and Earnings Expectations: Causal Evidence from a Mentoring Intervention

• Ends versus Means: Kantians, Utilitarians, and Moral Decisions

• Limited Self-Knowledge and Survey Response Behavior

• What’s Worth Knowing? Economists’ Opinions about Economics

• Misperceived Social Norms and Willingness to Act Against Climate Change

• Patience and Comparative Development

• Mentoring and Schooling Decisions: Causal Evidence

Policy briefs

• Climate Change Skepticism and Excuses

• The Role of Social Norms in the Fight Against Climate Change

• Germans’ Willingness to Act Against Climate Change

• Sanctions on Russia, Aid to Ukraine, and Energy for Germany

• Germans’ Willingness to Pay for Gas and Heating

• Policy relevant, multidisciplinary, disruptive: What kind of research do economists want?

• Bereit zum Klimaschutz? Soziale Normen sind entscheidend

• Chancengleichheit im Bildungssystem: Wie sich ein Mentorenprogramm auf die Schulwahl auswirkt