Nicolas Fugger

Nicolas Fugger serves as Professor for Behavioral Supply Chain Management within the Supply Chain Management area at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences (WiSo Faculty) of the University of Cologne since 2020. His academic career is deeply rooted at this institution, having completed his doctorate there (2011-2016) and previously serving as a Research Associate. He maintains strong ties with the ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim, where he served as Deputy Head of the Market Design Research Group (2017-2019) and continues as a Research Associate since 2016.

His educational background includes a B.Sc. in Economics from Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Bonn (2006-2009), followed by an M.Sc. in Economics (2009-2011) and Doctorate (2011-2016) at the University of Cologne. A research visit to Pennsylvania State University's Smeal College of Business in 2012 further enriched his academic foundation.

Fugger's research centers on Behavioral Supply Chain Management, Procurement, and Market Design, with particular emphasis on trust dynamics in procurement interactions, collusion prevention in reverse auctions, and discrimination mitigation in market mechanisms. His work bridges economic theory with practical behavioral insights, often employing experimental methodologies to examine real-world procurement challenges. Recent publications demonstrate his focus on how behavioral factors influence market outcomes and institutional design.

Analysis of his publications reveals consistent contributions to understanding behavioral anomalies in procurement systems, with increasing sophistication in modeling dynamic buyer-seller relationships. His research trajectory shows movement from foundational collusion studies toward more nuanced investigations of trust formation and discrimination prevention within institutional frameworks, reflecting growing integration of behavioral economics into operations research.

Fugger is actively embedded within major research initiatives at the University of Cologne, particularly the Center for Social and Economic Behavior (C-SEB) and the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy. These affiliations position him at the intersection of economic theory, behavioral science, and policy-relevant market design research. His work contributes to the university's reputation as one of Germany's most research-intensive institutions, particularly within the Social and Economic Behavior core profile area.