Behavioral economics, cooperation in social dilemmas, social responsibility, compliance

Bettina Rockenbach is Professor of Experimental and Behavioral Economics at the University of Cologne and served as Vice Rector of the university. She holds a diploma in Mathematics from the University of Bonn and received her habilitation in 1999 as an assistant to Nobel laureate Prof. Reinhard Selten at the University of Bonn. From 2000 to 2011 Bettina held the Chair in Microeconomics at the University of Erfurt and served as Vice-President for Research and Young Academics at the same university. She has published in leading economic journals as well as in general interest journals.

Bettina was also one of the two founding directors of the Reinhard Selten Institute. She was elected President of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in September 2024, taking office in March 2025.

Published papers

• What makes Cooperation Precarious?

  Engel, C., & Rockenbach, B. (2024). What Makes Cooperation Precarious?. Journal of Economic Psychology, 102712.

• Complementarities in Behavioral Interventions: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Energy Conservations

  Fang, X., Goette, L., Rockenbach, B., Sutter, M., Tiefenbeck, V., Schoeb, S., Staake, T. (2023). Complementarities in Behavioral Interventions: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Energy Conservations. Journal of Public Economics.

• Cooperation and Norm Enforcement Differ Strongly across Adult Generations

  Praxmarer, M., Rockenbach, B., Sutter, B. (2024). Cooperation and Norm Enforcement Differ Strongly across Adult Generations. European Economic Review.

• Complementarities in Behavioral Interventions: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Resource Conservation

  Fang, X., Goette, L., Rockenback, B., Sutter, M., Tiefenbeck, V., Schoeb, S., & Staake, T. (2023). Complementarities in behavioral interventions: evidence from a field experiment on resource conservation. Journal of Public Economics.

• Revealing Good Deeds: Disclosure of Social Responsibility in Competitive Markets

  Harrs, S., Rockenbach, B., & Wenner, L. (2022). Revealing Good Deeds: Disclosure of Social Responsibility in Competitive Markets. Experimental Economics.

• Paying with Your Personal Data: The Insensitivity of Private Information Provision to Asymmetric Benefits

  Rockenbach, B., Sadrieh, A. & Schielke, A. Paying with your personal data: the insensitivity of private information provision to asymmetric benefits. J Econ Sci Assoc (2021).

• Inequality and Competitive Effort: The Roles of Asymmetric Resources, Opportunity and Outcomes

  Fallucchi, F., Ramalingam, A., Rockenbach, B. & Waligora, M. (2021). Inequality and Competitive Effort: The Roles of Asymmetric Resources, Opportunity and Outcomes. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 185, 81-96.

Discussion papers

• How Optimistic and Pessimistic Narratives about COVID-19 Impact Economic Behavior