Axel Niemeyer
My Research
Dissertation: Essays on Mechanism Design without Transfers
"My thesis is about mechanism design, a subfield of economic theory. I study allocation problems and collective decision problems where payments between the agents (the participants) and the mechanism (the allocation or decision procedure) are not feasible. Examples include the allocation of resources within organizations or decision-making in committees and parliaments. One finding is that asking strategic agents what they know about one another is helpful in achieving more efficient allocations. Another finding is that the outcomes of many collective decision procedures are sensitive to how they are implemented in practice, say, majority voting via a secret ballot or by show of hands."
My Future
"For now, I’ll continue to do academic research (and teach) in the United States. Who knows what the future will bring!"
My Highlights
"I truly enjoyed my time in Bonn. Be it the afternoons discussing research in one of the many cozy cafes, the days going road cycling in the beautiful outdoors, or the evenings spent with the great friends I’ve made in Bonn (both in- and out of university). (I could go on...) At the BGSE, what I valued most was the academic freedom---getting to work at my own topics, at my own pace---and the huge family of theory peers, postdocs, and faculty, all working on similar sorts of topics. I learnt a lot from them in countless fruitful conversations."