Florian Zimmermann

Florian Zimmermann is a Professor and Distinguished CESifo Affiliate affiliated with the Institute on Behavior and Inequality (briq) in Bonn, Germany. As a CESifo Research Network Fellow, he contributes to the Behavioral Economics research area led by Ernst Fehr and Klaus M. Schmidt, focusing on how cognitive biases and social factors influence economic decisions.

His research centers on Behavioural and Experimental Economics, examining mental models in financial markets, belief formation mechanisms, and the interplay between social environments and self-assessment. Key investigations include moral universalism, trust determinants, climate risk perception, and job search behavior, often revealing how associative memory and motivated cognition drive economic choices.

Analysis of his 15 most recent publications shows a consistent trajectory exploring cognitive limitations in decision-making, with increasing emphasis on real-world applications like climate finance and labor markets. His work bridges theoretical models of uncertainty with empirical evidence from field and lab experiments, highlighting systematic deviations from rational choice assumptions.

Zimmermann operates within the Institute on Behavior and Inequality (briq), an independent Bonn-based research institute specializing in behavioral approaches to economic inequality. briq's collaborative environment enables interdisciplinary studies on how psychological factors perpetuate or mitigate inequality through mechanisms like discriminatory beliefs and social comparison.