Outstanding Researchers

Awards & Honors

The Department of Economics at the University of Bonn is home to excellent researchers. Awards and memberships in academies underline our research strength. This is also reflected by the current top positions of the department in international university rankings, which evaluate the quality of research and teaching on the basis of various performance indicators, data and reputation surveys.

Prizes and Awards

Nobel Prize

Professor Reinhard Selten was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994 for two publications in 1965 and 1975. With these papers, Selten achieved a decisive breakthrough in game theory: the introduction of the concepts of partial-game-perfect equilibrium and trembling-hand-perfect equilibrium drastically reduced the set of Nash equilibria by excluding non-credible threats. In this way, more accurate and reasonable predictions can be made for many games, such as markets. Selten's work contributed significantly to the applicability of game theory to large parts of economic theory. Today, most leading academic journals are dominated by game-theoretic articles. Moreover, game theory has found applications in all social sciences and even in biology.

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Leibniz Prize Winners of the Department Economics

The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize has been awarded annually by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) since 1986. Up to 10 prizes can be awarded each year, each with a prize sum of 2.5 million euros.

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© DFG

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Verdienstorden)

The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, colloquially known as the "Bundesverdienstkreuz", is the only general award of merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in the political, economic, cultural, intellectual or honorary fields. The order is awarded in eight, including the Grand Cross in special execution, in nine levels.

  • Reinhard Selten
  • Bernhard Korte

"Verdienstorden" of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

  • Bernhard Korte
order of merit
© bundespraesident.de

Hermann Heinrich Gossen Award Winners of the Department of Economics

The "Verein für Socialpolitik" awards the Gossen Prize to economists from the German-speaking world whose work has gained international recognition. The aim of the prize is to promote the internationalization of German economics. The prize winner must not have reached the age of 45 at the time of the award.

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© Verein für Socialpolitik

Max Planck Research Award / Max Planck Humboldt Research Award

The Max Planck Research Award promoted international collaborations between German and foreign scientists. Since 2018, it has been awarded in a modified form and as the Max Planck Humboldt Research Award to "outstanding scientific achievements by promising research personalities from abroad."

  • Martin Hellwig (2012), Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods
  • Benny Moldovanu (2001), Institute for Microeconomics
  • Werner Hildenbrand (1994), Institute for Microeconomics
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© Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Gay-Lussac-Humboldt Award, Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the French Government

The Gay Lussac Humboldt Award is a Franco-German science prize established in 1981. The prize is intended to recognize excellent researchers who have made a name for themselves through outstanding contributions to science and who stand for cooperation between the two countries. Each year, four to five German and French scientists from all research disciplines are awarded this prize.

  • Bernhard Korte
Logo Gay Lussac Humboldt Prize
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 Yrjö Jahnsson Award

In 1993, the Board of the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation established together with the European Economic Association (EEA) the Yrjö Jahnsson Award in Economics. Yearly it is awarded to young European economists who have made a significant contribution to theoretical and applied research in terms of the study of economics in Europe.

  • Armin Falk (2011)
  • Botond Kőszegi (2015)
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© yrjo-jahnsson-foundation

ERC Grants of the Department of Economics

The European Research Council (ERC) funds top scientists to advance basic research and visionary projects as well as to open up new interdisciplinary fields of knowledge.

ERC Starting Grants

  • Information Transmission in Markets (InfoTrans), Prof. Dr. Francesc Dilmé, 2020
  • Beliefs and Gender Inequality (BELIEFS), Prof. Dr. Teodora Boneva, 2020
  • Analysis of Structural Economic Models: Misspecification and Flexible Estimation (NPSkills), Prof. Dr. Joachim Freyberger, 2020
  • The Role of Memory for Economic Belief Formation (MEMEB), Prof. Dr. Florian Zimmermann, 2020
  • Information Aggregation in Elections (InfoAggregation), Prof. Dr. Stephan Lauermann, 2014*
  • Heterogeneity, Uncertainty and Macroeconomic Performance (HUMP), Prof. Dr. Christian Bayer, 2011*
  • Understanding Preferences: Measurement, Prevalence, Determinants and Consequences (Preferences), Prof. Dr. Armin Falk, 2007*

ERC Consolidator Grants

  • Housing, Finance and the Macroeconomy, 1870-2015 (SafeHouse), Prof. Dr. Moritz Schularick, 2017
  • A Unified Framework of Business Cycles and Household Portfolios: Income Risks, Asset Liquidity, and Inequality (LiquidHouseCycl), Prof. Dr. Christian Bayer, 2016

ERC Advanced Grants

  •  Institutions and Morality (Morality), Prof. Dr. Armin Falk, 2013*
  • Dynamic Mechanism Design: Theory and Applications (DMD), Prof. Dr. Benny Moldovanu, 2009*
  • Topics in Behavioral-Economics Theory, Botond Kőszegi, 2018

*ERC project has already been completed.

Academies & Societies Memberships

German National Academy of Sciences

The German National Academy of Sciences has two special tasks: representing German science abroad and advising politicians and the public.

  • Armin Falk (2009)
  • Jürgen von Hagen (2001)
  • Bernhard Korte

North Rhine-Westphalia Academy of Sciences

The NRW Academy sees itself as a place of intellectual freedom and a forum for interdisciplinary discourse. It brings together the state's leading researchers.

  • Werner Hildenbrand
  • Benny Moldovanu
  • Isabel Schnabel
  • Urs Schweizer
  • Bernhard Korte
  • Armin Falk

Fellows of the European Economic Association

The European Economic Association (EEA) promotes the development of economics in Europe, communication between lecturers, researchers and students and links between universities and research centers.

  • Armin Falk
  • Jürgen von Hagen,
  • Martin Hellwig
  • Botond Kőszegi
  • Benny Moldovanu
  • Isabel Schnabel
  • Urs Schweizer
  • Klaus F. Zimmermann

Fellows of the Econometric Society

The Econometric Society is an international society for the advancement of economic theory in its relation to statistics and mathematics.

  • Armin Falk
  • Martin Hellwig
  • Werner Hildenbrand
  • Botond Kőszegi
  • Benny Moldovanu
  • Sven Rady
  • Peter Schönfeld
  • Dieter Sondermann

Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities

The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an
association of outstanding scientists with a tradition of more than 300 years that transcends disciplinary and national borders.

  • Werner Hildenbrand
  • Martin Hellwig
  • Moritz Schularick
  • Isabel Schnabel

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences

In addition to being an honor society that recognizes the outstanding achievements of its members, the Academy is also an independent research center that brings together leaders from diverse research disciplines, professions and perspectives.

  • Werner Hildenbrand
  • Martin Hellwig

 American Economic Association

The American Economic Association (AEA) has more than 20,000 members from academia, business, government and consulting firms with diverse areas of expertise and multicultural backgrounds.

Foreign Honorary Members

  • Werner Hildenbrand
  • Martin Hellwig

Académie des sciences morales et politiques, Paris

The Académie des sciences morales et politiques is a French scholarly society and one of the five academies of the Institut de France.

  • Martin Hellwig

 Fellows Center for European Policy Research

CEPR is Europe’s leading network of Economic Policy Researchers. Over 1,700 fellows and affiliates, based in institutions throughout Europe and beyond, contribute to our research, events and publications.

  • Sarah Auster
  • Christian Bayer
  • Armin Falk
  • Lorenz Götte
  • Hendrik Hakenes
  • Eva Hoppe-Fischer
  • Keith Kuester
  • Stephan Lauermann
  • Benny Moldovanu
  • Sven Rady
  • Isabel Schnabel
  • Moritz Schularick
  • Jürgen von Hagen (from 1992 to 2021)

 Board of Academic Advisors: Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs & Climate Action

The Board of Academic Advisors gives the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action independent advice on all aspects of economic policy. The 41 academics meet five times a year, discuss topics of their own choice and then publish their findings in the form of expertises.

  • Christian Bayer
  • Martin Hellwig

Federal government's gas and heat commission

Expert commission of the federal government to quickly present proposals on the high cost of heat and gas.

  • Christian Bayer

Memberships of Editorial Boards at Journals

  • Quarterly Journal of Economics: Florian Zimmermann (associate editor)

  • Journal of the European Economic Association:  Florian Zimmermann (associate editor)

  • Review of Economic Studies: Florian Zimmermann, Teodora Boneva, Joachim Freyberger, Stephan Lauermann (editorial board)

  • The Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series C:  Dominik Liebl (associate editor)

  • International Journal of Central Banking: Keith Kuester (co-editor)

  • Econometrica: Stephan Lauermann (associate editor)

  • Theoretical Economics: Stephan Lauermann (associate editor)

  • Journal of Economic Theory:  Sven Rady, Daniel Krähmer (associate editors)

  • American Economic Review: Botond Kőszegi

Excellent research

Hausdorff Center of Mathematics (HCM)

The Hausdorff Center of Mathematics (HCM) is a Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn. Based upon six units, the Cluster ranges from pure and applied mathematics to mathematically orientated research in economics as well as interdisciplinary research.

ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy

The ECONtribute Excellence Cluster, a joint initiative of the Universities of Bonn and Cologne,  conducts research on markets in the area of intersection between business, politics and society.

Collaborative Research Center (CRC) TR 224 - EPoS

The CRC TR 224 deals with equal opportunities, market regulation and financial market stability as societal challenges.

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