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 Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences

Bettina Rockenbach

Bettina Rockenbach - Experimental and Behavioral Economics

Research focuses

Social norm compliance, Common pool resource management, Social responsibility

Current positions

  • Since 2018 Member of the Executive Council of Verein für Sozialpolitik
  • Since 2017 Director of the Reinhard Selten Institute
  • Since 2015 First Prorector and Prorector for Research and Innovation of the Uni. of Cologne
  • Since 2013 Member of the National Academy of Science Leopoldina
  • Since 2011 Professor for Experimental and Behavioral Economics at the Uni. of Cologne

Curriculum vitae

  • 2012 - 2015 Vice-Dean for Research and Young Academics at the University of Cologne
  • 2010 - 2011 Head of the Sozialwissenschaftlichen Ausschusses im Verein für Socialpolitik and member of the extended board of the Verein für Socialpolitik
  • 2008 - 2011 Vice-President for Research and Young Academics at the University of Erfurt
  • 2006 - 2008 Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Law, and Social Sciences at the Uni. Erfurt
  • 2004 - 2008 European Vice-President of the Economic Science Association (ESA)
  • 2000 - 2011 Professor for Microeconomics and Industrial Organization at the Uni. of Erfurt
  • 1999 - 2000 Visiting Professor at the CentER for Economic Research, Tilburg University, NL
  • 1999 Habilitation in economics at the University of Bonn
  • 1995 - 1999 Assistant Professor at the University of Bonn
  • 1995 Heinz-Sauermann-Award for the best dissertation of the years 1993/1994 by the Gesellschaft für experimentelle Wirtschaftsforschung (GEW)
  • 1994 - 1995 Consultant at Prof. Dr. Feilmeier & Junker, Munich 
  • 1993 PhD in economics at the University of Bonn (supervisor Prof. Dr. Reinhard Selten)
  • 1992 - 1993 Visiting Associate at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA 
  • 1988 - 1993 Research Assistant of Prof. Dr. Reinhard Selten, University of Bonn
  • 1988 Diploma in mathematics at the University of Bonn

Selected publications

  • Inequality and competitive effort: The roles of asymmetric resources, opportunity and outcomes, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2021, 185, 81-96 (Francesco Fallucchi, Abhijit Ramalingam, Bettina Rockenbach, Marcin Waligora).
  • Self-serving behavior of the rich causes contagion effects among the poor, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2021, 183, 289-300 (Bettina Rockenbach, Sebastian Tonke, Arne Weiss).
  • Providing personal information to the benefit of others, PLOS ONE, 2020, (Bettina Rockenbach, Abdolkarim Sadrieh, Anne Schielke).
    Field evidence on the role of time preferences in conservation behavior, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2020, 104 (Suparee Boonmanunt, Thomas Lauer, Bettina Rockenbach, Arne Weiss).
  • Inequality in minimum-effort coordination, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2020, 177, 341-370 (Christoph Feldhaus, Bettina Rockenbach, Christopher Zeppenfeld).
  • The dose does it: Punishment and cooperation in dynamic public-good games, Review of Behavioral Economics, 2019, 6(1), 19–37 (Bettina Rockenbach & Irenaeus Wolff).
    Endogenously emerging gender pay gap in an experimental teamwork setting, Games, 2018, 9(4), 98, 1-19 (Özgür Gürerk, Bernd Irlenbusch, Bettina Rockenbach).
    United we stand, divided we fall: The limitations of between-group comparisons for fostering within-group cooperation, Journal of Economic Psychology, 2018, 69, 19-19 (Robert Böhm, Bettina Rockenbach, Jarid Zimmermann).
  • Moral punishment in everyday life, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2018, (Wilhelm Hofmann, Mark J. Brandt, Daniel C. Wisneski, Bettina Rockenbach, Linda J. Skitka).
  • Pushing the bad away: reverse Tullock contests, Journal of the Economic Science Association, 2018, 4, 73-85 (Bettina Rockenbach, Sebastian Schneiders, Marcin Waligora).
  • Evasive Lying in Strategic Communication, Journal of Public Economics, 2017, 156, 59-72 (Kiryl Khalmetski, Bettina Rockenbach, Peter Werner).
  • Altruistic punishment does not increase with the severity of norm violations in the field, Nature Communications, 2016, 7, 13327 (Loukas Balafoutas, Nikos Nikiforakis, Bettina Rockenbach).
  • The competitive advantage of honesty, European Economic Review, 2016, 89, 407-424 (Mark Pigors & Bettina Rockenbach).
  • Consumer Social Responsibility, Management Science, 2016, 3123-3137 (Mark Pigors & Bettina Rockenbach).
  • On Cooperation in Open Communities, Journal of Public Economics, 2014, 120, 220-230 (Özgür Gürerk, Bernd Irlenbusch, Bettina Rockenbach).
  • Direct and indirect punishment among strangers in the field, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 2014, 111/45, 15924-15927 (Loukas Balafoutas, Nikos Nikiforakis, Bettina Rockenbach).
  • Measuring Lying Aversion, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2013, Vol. 93, 293-300 (Uri Gneezy, Bettina Rockenbach, Marta Serra-Garcia).
  • To qualify as a social partner humans hide severe punishment though their observed cooperativeness is decisive, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America (PNAS), 2011, 105/45, 18307-18312 (Bettina Rockenbach und Manfred Milinski).
  • Monitoring in Teams: Using Laboratory Experiments to Study a Theory of the Firm, Journal of the European Economic Association, 2011, 9, 785–816 (Stefan Große, Louis Putterman, Bettina Rockenbach).
  • In Search of Workers’ Real Effort Reciprocity – A Field and a Laboratory Experiment, Journal of the European Economic Association, 2010, 8, 817–837 (Heike Hennig-Schmidt, Abdolkarim Sadrieh, Bettina Rockenbach).
  • Egalitarism in Young Children, Nature, 2008, 454, 1079-1084 (Ernst Fehr, Helen Bernhard, Bettina Rockenbach).
  • Spying on Others Evolves, Science, 2007, 317/5837, 464-465 (Manfred Milinski und Bettina Rockenbach). 
  • The efficient interaction of indirect reciprocity and costly punishment, Nature, 2006, 444, 718-723 (Bettina Rockenbach und Manfred Milinski). 
  • The Competitive Advantage of Sanctioning Institutions, Science, 2006, 312/5770, 108-111 (Özgür Gürerk, Bernd Irlenbusch, Bettina Rockenbach).
  • An Experimental Test of Design Alternatives for the British 3G / UMTS Auction, European Economic Review, 2005, 49, 503-530 (Klaus Abbink, Bernd Irlenbusch, Paul Pezanis-Christou, Bettina Rockenbach, Abdolkarim Sadrieh, Reinhard Selten).
  • Detrimental Effects of Sanctions on Human Altruism, Nature, 2003, 422, 137-140 (Ernst Fehr und Bettina Rockenbach).