Personnel economics, labor economics, organization economics

Oliver Gürtler is a Professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Cologne since 2009. He studied Economics at the University of Bonn and did his PhD in Bonn as well. He further studied mathematics at the University of Hagen. Oliver is a member of several economic institutions – among them the Committee for Organizational Economics of the Verein für Socialpolitik and the Center for Social and Economic Behavior (C-SEB). His research has been published in the RAND Journal of Economics, the Journal of Labor Economics, the International Economic Review, and the European Economic Review.

Published papers

• Player Strength and Effort in Contests

  Giebe, T., & Gürtler, O. (2026). Player strength and effort in contests. Journal of Economic Theory, 106164.

• Do Workers Benefit from Wage Transparency Rules?

  Gürtler, O., & Struth, L. (2024). Do workers benefit from wage transparency rules? International Economic Review. DOI: 10.1111/iere.12750

• Competition and Risk-Taking

  Gürtler, O., Struth, L., Thon, M. (2023). Competition and Risk-Taking. European Economic Review.

• Simple Equilibria in General Contests

  Bastani, S., Giebe, T., & Gürtler, O. (2022). Simple Equilibria in General Contests. Games and Economic Behavior.

• Big Fish in Small (and Big) Ponds: A Study of Careers

  DeVaro, J., Gürtler, O., Gürtler, M., & Deutscher, C. (2022) Big Fish in Small (and Big) Ponds-A Study of Careers. Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization.

• Firm Choice and Career Success – Theory and Evidence

  Deutscher, C., Gürtler, M., Gürtler, O., & DeVaro, J. (2020). Firm choice and career success-theory and evidence. European Economic Review, 103470.

Discussion papers

• Shaping Interfirm Relationships in Intermediary Markets: Evidence from a Field Experiment

• Player Strength and Effort in Contests

• Overconfidence and Gender Equality in the Labor Market

• Competition and Risk-Taking

• Competition for Promotion Can Induce Household Specialization Between Equally Competitive Spouses

• Do Workers Benefit from Wage Transparency Rules?

• A General Framework for Studying Contests