Armin Falk | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1968-01-18)18 January 1968 (age 58) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Cologne University of Zurich |
| Doctoral advisor | Ernst Fehr |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Microeconomics Behavioral economics |
| Institutions | University of Bonn |
| Awards | Yrjö Jahnsson Award (2011) Leibniz Prize (2009) Gossen Prize (2008) |
| Website | |
Armin Falk (born 18 January 1968) is a Germaneconomist. He has held a chair at theUniversity of Bonn since 2003.
Falk studiedeconomics as well asphilosophy andhistory at theUniversity of Cologne. In 1998 he obtained aPh.D. from theUniversity of Zurich under the supervision ofErnst Fehr.
Falk is Professor of Economics and Director of theBehavior and Inequality Research Institute (briq),[1] as well as the Laboratory of Experimental Economics at the University of Bonn. He isexternal scientific member of theMax Planck Society (and as such a member of theMax Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods), program director at theInstitute for the Study of Labor (IZA), fellow of theCentre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), fellow of theCenter for Economic Studies (CESifo), Research Professor at theGerman Institute for Economic Research (DIW), and member of the scientific council of theFederal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Furthermore, he is affiliated with theInstitute for New Economic Thinking.
In October 2022, allegations arose that Falk had committed sexual abuse. In March 2023, Falk's employer briq stated in a public statement that an independent investigation did not confirm the allegations, and that Falk was fully rehabilitated from briq's perspective.[2] The University of Bonn concluded from the independent investigation and their own review of the matter that "there are no findings to substantiate the allegations made via social media" and that Falk "has been fully exonerated from the allegations made".[3] After theDeutsche Post Foundation, the sponsor, announced in 2023 its intention to merge the briq institute with the IZA, and IZA Director Simon Jäger subsequently announced his departure, Falk was slated to take over as the director of the combined institution. This sparked widespread opposition within the German and international economics community. In November 2023, hundreds of members of the IZA network demanded that Falk not be appointed as the institute's head; otherwise, they would collectively withdraw from the network.[4][5]
Falk's research interests includemicroeconomics,behavioral economics, andneuroeconomics. He has published in renowned journals like theAmerican Economic Review,Quarterly Journal of Economics,Econometrica, andScience. In the GermanHandelsblatt ranking of 2010, which analyzes current research output of economists in Germany, Austria, and German speaking Switzerland in terms of quality of publications since 2005, Falk reached the 8th place.
In a broad sense, Falk's research is about obtaining a better empirical foundation of economic behavior. While the traditional economic model of individual behavior postulates perfect rationality and egoism (homo oeconomicus), the work of Falk demonstrates that human behavior is better described bybounded rationality. In addition, Falk shows thatsocial preferences such as fairness andtrust are important determinants ofbehavior.
His research is highly interdisciplinary and builds on insights fromexperimental research,social psychology,genetics, andneuroscience. In terms of methods, Falk mainly uses experiments, both in the lab and in the field, complemented by neuroscientific methods, e.g.,functional magnetic resonance imaging. An additional focus is the analysis of representativesurvey data.
The research of Falk can broadly be divided into two main areas, the analysis ofeconomic preferences and psychological aspects of thelabor market. A better understanding of preferences and personality is of great importance for economic and social science, as virtually every model in that area needs to make assumptions on individual behavior. A key focus has been the analysis of social preferences, as well risk andtime preferences, but alsopersonality. Supported by anERC Starting Grant, Falk studies the distribution of preferences in the population as well as socioeconomic determinants of preferences.[6]
A second important focus of Falk's research has been the analysis of psychological aspects in labor markets (Behavioral Labor Economics). This line of research demonstrates that in particular in labor market contexts, motives such as social preferences, social comparison, trust, social approval, andintrinsic motivation play an important role. This has implications for work relations, as well as the functioning of organizations and labor markets.
