Lara Bartels

Lara Bartels serves as a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn, Germany, with prior research positions at ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research. Her work bridges environmental, behavioral, and experimental economics with development economics.

Her research focuses on experimental methodologies including field experiments, framed-field experiments, and lab experiments combined with survey and geographical data. Key areas include

• gender dynamics in resource management
• carbon offsetting mechanisms
• energy efficiency subsidies
• collective action in commons governance
• voluntary climate mitigation

She frequently employs transdisciplinary approaches to examine real-world behavioral change.

Her publication trends reveal strong emphasis on experimental design for environmental policy evaluation, particularly investigating how institutional structures, payment mechanisms, and information provision affect pro-environmental behavior. Recent work increasingly examines carbon markets and climate mitigation strategies through the lens of behavioral economics.

Lara Bartels collaborates extensively with leading institutions including Kassel University, Heidelberg University, and Marburg University. Her experimental work spans multiple continents with significant field research conducted in India on water management systems.