Teresa Backhaus

Teresa Backhaus is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Applied Microeconomics (IAME) within the Department of Economics at the University of Bonn. She is a member of the CRC TRR 224 EPoS (Project C1), a visiting research affiliate at IZA, and actively contributes to the open-source tax-transfer simulator GETTSIM. Since 2024, she represents research associates in the faculty council, advocating for academic staff interests in resource allocation and policy decisions. Her interdisciplinary research sits at the intersection of applied microeconometrics, labor economics, and behavioral economics.

Her educational background includes a PhD in Economics from Freie Universität Berlin (2022), an M.Sc. in Economics from the same institution (2017), and a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Bonn (2015). She also completed coursework in the Berlin Doctoral Program in Economics and Management Science (BDPEMS), now the Berlin School of Economics (BSE), and spent a semester abroad at the University of New Mexico.

Teresa's research focuses on labor market dynamics, particularly retirement decisions, life-cycle employment, and the behavioral aspects of economic choices. She investigates how individuals form expectations about wages, how policy interventions affect training participation, and how cognitive limitations influence retirement planning. Her work on the German minimum wage evaluates its effectiveness in reducing poverty and inequality, while her experimental research explores strategy use in repeated games like the Prisoner’s Dilemma, identifying distinct behavioral types such as defectors and cooperators.

Her recent publications, appearing in journals such as Labour Economics, Journal of European Social Policy, and Games and Economic Behavior, reflect a strong trend toward integrating structural modeling with behavioral insights. She frequently employs survey data (e.g., SOEP, NEPS) and experimental methods to study causal misperceptions, learning dynamics, and household decision-making. Her work bridges theoretical models with real-world policy implications, particularly in welfare and labor market reforms.

Her scientific awards include the WZB World Merit Fellowship (2020) and the PROMOS Scholarship from DAAD (2011). She has also served in leadership roles, including as a student representative in BDPEMS (2016–2018) and currently as the elected representative of academic staff in the faculty council.

Teresa collaborates with prominent economists such as Yves Breitmoser, Peter Haan, Steffen Huck, and Hans-Martin von Gaudecker. She has held research positions at WZB Berlin and DIW Berlin and has conducted research stays at University College London. Her involvement in GETTSIM highlights her commitment to open science and policy-relevant computational tools. She is actively engaged in departmental governance and supports institutional transparency and equity through her representation role.

Her research lab or team affiliations include the Institute for Applied Microeconomics (IAME), CRC TRR 224, and the GETTSIM development team. She is embedded in a vibrant network of behavioral and labor economists in Germany and internationally, contributing to both theoretical and applied advancements in economics.