Armin Falk

Armin Falk is the Director of the Behavior and Inequality Research Institute (briq), Director of the Laboratory for Experimental Economics (BonnEconLab), and Professor of Economics at the University of Bonn. He is affiliated with numerous prestigious institutions including the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics, Institute for New Economic Thinking, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Centre for Economic Policy (CEPR), CESifo, and the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.

His educational background includes studies in Economics, Philosophy, and History at the University of Cologne, followed by a PhD in Economics from the University of Zurich in 1999. Falk has received two ERC grants and was awarded the Gossen Prize in 2008, the Leibniz Prize in 2009, and the Yrjö Jahnsson Award in 2011.

Falk's research spans behavioral economics, neuroeconomics, experimental economics, and labor economics, with particular focus on moral behavior, personality development, economic preferences, and climate change behavior. His work combines laboratory and large-scale field experiments with analysis of representative survey data. Notable research areas include the briq family panel, a longitudinal study examining personality development in children, and the Global Preferences Survey, which covers over 80,000 individuals across 76 countries.

His recent publications reveal significant trends in understanding global support for climate action (finding 69% of the world population willing to contribute 1% of income), the impact of mentoring on educational mobility, and the relationship between socioeconomic status and children's development. His research has been published in top journals including American Economic Review, Econometrica, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Review of Economic Studies, as well as Science and PNAS.

• Gossen Prize (2008)
• Leibniz Prize (2009)
• Yrjö Jahnsson Award (2011)
• Two ERC grants

Falk actively engages in public discourse through media appearances, policy briefs, and his 2022 book 'Warum es so schwer ist, ein guter Mensch zu sein … und wie wir das ändern können'. He leads the 'briq family panel' research project and is involved in the 'Balu und Du' mentoring program. His work has influenced climate policy discussions globally, with findings featured in the UNDP Human Development Report 2023/24 and inspiring initiatives like 'The 89 Percent Project' and 'We Are the Majority' campaign.