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New Name, New Focus

With the retirement of our former director Christoph Engel and the closure of his legal department, our institute now has a clearly economic focus. In the future, our research will concentrate fully on questions in behavioral economics, including the analysis and design of economic institutions (Economic Design), and is led by the two directors Matthias Sutter and Axel Ockenfels. The scientific profile is further complemented by the research group headed by Sebastian Schneider. With the new name, this thematic focus is now also reflected externally.

Felix Rusche has been awarded the 2025 Schmölders Foundation Prize

Together with Yulia Evsyukova and Wladislaw Mill, he is recognized for the study “LinkedOut? A Field Experiment on Discrimination in Job Network Formation,” which demonstrates through a large-scale field experiment that LinkedIn profiles with darker skin tones systematically receive fewer connection requests.
Congratulations!

Add-on Fellowship by Joachim Herz Foundation for Jana Tissen and Theresa Schaetze

Theresa Schaetze and Jana Tissen have been awarded the Add-on Fellowship for Science and Transfer by the Joachim Herz Foundation.
The fellowship supports outstanding scientists working on interdisciplinary research projects with social relevance in the field of “Resources of the Future.”

AER publication by Matthias Sutter and Sebastian Schneider

A new paper by Matthias Sutter and Sebastian Schneider has been accepted for publication and is now forthcoming in the American Economic Review – one of the most prestigious journals in economics.
Their study, “Risk Preferences and Field Behavior: The Relevance of Higher-Order Risk Preferences,” shows that higher-order risk preferences such as prudence ...

Philippe Aghion awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics

The Max Planck Institute warmly congratulates Philippe Aghion on receiving this year’s Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Aghion, one of the world’s leading scholars in the field of growth and innovation economics, served for many years as a member of the Institute’s Advisory Council (2004–2014).
We are particularly pleased that Aghion is already the third member of our Advisory Council to be honored with the Nobel Prize in Economics...